


Welcome to ANBU

by Zabzablord



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Character Death, F/M, Out of Character, Psychological, Romance, Warning!, Worldbuilding, You Have Been Warned, and a bit of, mainly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:28:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28753647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zabzablord/pseuds/Zabzablord
Summary: After failing his graduation exam, Naruto Uzumaki is brought in a strange place by a man wearing an ape-like mask. Enters a one-eyed old man who reveals shocking truths to him and makes him an offer.NOTE: as this is a work in progress, the chapters might be edited at any time, depending on the feedback I receive. Those edits will only refine the writing, never affecting the story itself.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	1. Duty 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jinchouhime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinchouhime/gifts).



> This work is an AU - Alternative Universe. It means the worldbuilding at large has been reworked. Jutsu, characters, politics: you name it. While it is my opinion that a character being OoC is a matter of perspective and personal appreciation, the Out of Character tag is here so that I may not be accused of "mis-tagging". So let me preemptively tell you something: if you leave a comment to say this fic does not follow Canon, then please don't. I know, it is the point.
> 
> That being said and if you choose to read this fanfiction, I hope you enjoy it. Best reading to you.
> 
> This work is a "gift" to JinchouHime, who has been a great help. She won't agree to everything that is inside but she contributed to its development.

Hiruzen Sarutobi glared at his interlocutor, his eyes aflame with all the killing intent a veteran of several wars could muster. The ribbons of a torn scroll jutted out of his right hand, that he held clamped like a steel vice.

Danzo Shimura remained impassible under the scalding look of his old friend and rival. He took no pleasure in the plan he was enacting and would not lord it over the man but he would not let himself be intimidated either.

“Savour it while you can, Danzo,” said Hiruzen with a sneer.

“If you had done what your duty asked you to do, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” answered Danzo in a monotone.

Danzo knew Hiruzen to be capable enough to reach the necessary conclusions by himself; they were both too old to be taught or admonished, much less by one another. What he doubted was whether or not his old rival had enough courage to face his mistakes.

Maybe having Naruto Uzumaki forcefully withdrawn from his non-existent custody by orders of the Hoshu himself would be the necessary wake up call. If not, oh well, but at least one of the most important children in the country of Kaoukoku would finally receive proper training.

“I wanted him to have a childhood.”

“How splendidly it worked.”

For a second, Hiruzen looked struck.

“I shan’t pretend I understand what guided you, Hiruzen. In fact, I’m beyond confused but your days of doing utterly nothing have come to an end.”

“You were the one who jeopardized his identity!” The Sarutobi roared suddenly, having seemingly reached the end of his proverbial rope.

Danzo remained icy. “You were the one who allowed me to,” he amended, almost gently if it weren’t for the disdain dripping from his words. “Never forget that.” He breathed out. “I’m done here, Hokage-dono.”

He offered Hiruzen a small bow, turned heels and exited the small office. Taking to narrow catwalks and hidden staircases, Danzo promptly navigated the labyrinthine layout of the Crimson Keep, ending under the foundations of the citadel, at the entrance of a dimly lit cave.

From a shadows-drowned corner, a ghost emerged, melding from inky darkness into solid reality. The individual bore a black cloak that draped the entirety of their body and a mask of porcelain and steel that concealed their features under the snarling mien of a silvery ape.

“Commander. The boy is under the watch of Gingoku in the hall,” informed the figure in a male voice.

Danzo nodded once to acknowledge the man’s words, took a lantern that hung from a hook in the wall nearby and departed in the roughly carved tunnel as the ANBU operator melded back into the obscurity. He went up and down through a curving passageway, took turns seemingly at random, climbed an unending set of stairs, flared his chakra once in order to disrupt an illusion that tried to take over his senses and eventually reached a door.

It was made of wood and reinforced with steel. In place of any handle or knob, there was a strange hole, bordered by steel.

Danzo slipped his right hand inside the hole. A second later, the door opened, the piece of fuinjutsu having done its work.

The ANBU headquarters were located within one of the little forts suspended to the Hokage Monument, in-between the hieratic busts of the Hokage past and present. There were seven such edifices; officially shelters, storages and hospitals ready in case of an attack, they were all built the same way: around one of the largest semi-natural holes that dotted the face of the cliff that stood above the village. Painted in various shades of ochre and with the vegetation allowed to grow freely along the eaves of their roofs, they were invisible at first glance.

The hallway Danzo entered led him to a rather spacious room and for an instant, the old man almost forgot he was in a cave, carved in the flank of a mountain. Tatami mats covered the floor in an auspicious arrangement, the walls were hidden behind panels of painted rice paper and circular windows allowed sunlight to shine in. Lanterns, suspended to the ceiling, bathed the place in a warm glow. 

Sitting at a low table on a flat cushion was Naruto Uzumaki.

Both shoulders in a slump, visage twisted by the bitterness of failure, eyes empty of their spark: Danzo could decipher the teen’s state of mind through his much too open features like he could read a book. The boy had the look of someone whose entire existence had just been crushed. Yet, when Naruto eventually noticed Danzo’s presence, his gaze was hopeful. In no hurry, Danzo folded his knees and sat in front of the teen.

“My name is Danzo Shimura. Do you know why you are here, Naruto Uzumaki?” He asked, his voice tightly leashed in a monotone.

Naruto leaned forward and pointed at Gingoku looming a step behind him. “This guy said I could become a ninja if I followed him!”

Danzo nodded. “That is correct. I believe, however, that you need to be made aware of a number of truths that concern you before we further discuss your engagement as a ninja.”

The boy blinked. “Truths?”

For something to be rebuilt, it needed to be torn down first, Danzo mused. Unfortunately for Naruto, he had plenty of weaknesses to strike at. The old man decided to begin with the obvious one.

“You failed your genin examination.”

Naruto flinched and looked away. “Yeah, so?” He grumbled, his lower lip jutting out in a pout.

A light smack, administered to the top of his skull, startled him. Before he could protest the hit - courtesy of Gingoku - Danzo spoke, his voice like a whip.

“Your lack of manner and generally insubordinate attitude was tolerated in the Academy because nobody ever cared enough about you to correct it. I understand that. It is not, however, acceptable for you to carry yourself like this. In my presence, you will behave.”

The teen recoiled and shrunk on himself before he puffed his chest out and blustered. “Yeah? And what-”

Another smack, more painful but far from enough to truly hurt him, derailed his retort.

“My agent shall hit you increasingly hard until you understand to sit still and listen,” explained Danzo as if he were discussing the weather. “I will impart important things to you so that you may better yourself. The least you can do is pay attention.”

Naruto momentarily lost his ability to speak, eyes wide. No one had ever talked to him like that. Even Iruka’s admonishments, the one and only teacher who had acknowledged his presence during his time at the Academy, had always been about punishments.

“As I was saying, you failed your genin examinations. I want you to be honest with me and answer me this.” Danzo bore his one valid eye in the azure gaze of his vis-a-vis. “Why do you think you failed?”

Naruto’s first instinct was to blame the stupid, useless clone jutsu. It was his absolute worst skill and of course, the final examination to earn the hitai-ate of Konohagakure required him to do it. His mouth was already open, out of reflex but before he could speak, he caught - truly caught - the look Danzo was sending him.

The teen abruptly sealed his lips shut. It was a look that told him nothing but complete honesty would be accepted and that his response would earn him a smack to the back of the head.

The boy knew the reason he had failed, a small part of his mind easily supplying him with the answer. For a second, he refused to acknowledge it and searched for ways to place the blame somewhere else, upon someone else’s shoulders. Just as he had decided on how to spin his tale, he derailed this particular train of thought. The same part of his mind told him that it would not fly with the old man sitting in front of him.

Danzo carefully hid his satisfaction when he saw the boy sufficiently cowed to choose honesty over denial.

It sunk a deep pit in Naruto's stomach and made him feel nauseous to accept it but the truth was simple. He had failed because he hadn’t tried enough. The mockeries of his peers, the disinterest of his teachers, the fact he had no one at home to help him, it mattered of course. At least, it mattered to him and he would not go back on that. In his hurry to become an “awesome and powerful ninja”, however, he had forgotten to actually work at becoming one.

Naruto hung his head low, the weight of shame pushing his shoulders down. He fisted his hands and squeezed.

“‘Cause I’m an idiot. Nobody bothered to help me so I didn’t do enough work. I pranked people instead.”

“Why?”

There was nothing in Danzo’s voice, no judgement, no reproach - not that Naruto would have cared - nothing but naked curiosity. The boy, mused the old man, was a castle of cards: light prodding would be enough to collapse it.

Naruto's features crumpled. Slowly, the pit in his stomach filled with something bitter, hot and cold at the same time, hurtful. The blue of his eyes turned to the darkness of a stormy sea and his nails bit into the flesh of his palms as he squeezed harder.

“‘Cause I… I wanted to be seen.” He forced through his clenched teeth and choked throat. “All the pranks I did, all of it… People look at me when I'm annoying enough. When I'm the clown."

Danzo merely nodded. The answer was no surprise to him; Nauto had been profiled long ago.

“In retrospect, do you think it was worth it?”

Naruto looked to the side. Heat slowly crept up his neck. “ I don’t get it.”

“Looking back.”

“Oh.”

He had never asked himself that. The denial, the loneliness, the cold, barren void they created in which he drowned everyday: escaping it was worth everything.

Yet his cries, his pleas for attention had gone unheard and when he decided to resort to pranking to extract some measure of it from the villagers, they turned to anger and disdain.

The boy’s features further fell. “I… I don’t know,” he muttered eventually, eyes riveted to his knees. “I don’t exist to them. I thought I...” He closed his mouth shut and scowled.

Danzo hummed. It was time to break the boy out of his foolish notions.

“Uzumaki-san, what I am about to tell you is a badly hidden secret. Your generation does not know because of a gag order but virtually every person older than twenty knows. What do you know about the Kyuubi?”

“The Fox?" Naruto droned morosely. "It attacked the village thirteen years ago and was killed by Yondaime-sama.”

“That is indeed what your generation has been taught but it’s almost entirely false.”

“... False?” Naruto whispered after a beat, his breath suddenly short, a tremor in his voice.

“The Kyuubi is what is known as a biju. Such creatures cannot be killed, only imprisoned through the use of advanced fuinjutsu. The receptacle cannot be any object, either. Ideally, a biju is sealed within a newborn.”

“No.” The boy immediately started shaking his head before he slapped his hands against his ears. “No, no, no.”

“Yondaime-sama sealed the Kyuubi inside you, Uzumaki-san.You are the beast’s living prison, a jinchuuriki.”

For a second, hands still on his ears, Naruto stared at the lacquered table, willing his eyes to drill a hole in the flawless surface. His arms fell to his sides, robbed of their strength and his eyelids closed. Suddenly, a tremor raked his body and a sob escaped his grinding jaws just as tears spilled from the corner of his eyes.

“The knowledge of your status spread soon after the events of this day. Yondaime-sama wished for you to be seen as a hero but the villagers chose to make you the target of their grief and fears.”

Danzo’s voice, steady and powerful despite its flatness, felt like a lifeline thrown amidst a storm. Naruto clutched it and focused on it, body and mind battered by crushing grief and scalding anger. His chest burned, his stomach twisted in a knot and his teeth gnashed so hard together, they threatened to split.

He had always thought he was somehow responsible for the way the village ostracized him. If he had done something to make the villagers hate him, even if he did not remember what, he could do something to make them love him.

This reasoning had helped him prop himself up countless times; when it had been too hard, too tiring.

But they despised him for something beyond his control, something he wasn't responsible for, something he could never change. In the back of his mind, the small voice remarked flatly that his campaign for attention had been a lost cause since the very beginning.

Fated to fail. The thought felt like a splinter in the boy's psyche. Fated to lose, to be an idiot, to be scorned. Tears flowed in earnest, untamed.

“I was the one, with authorization from Sandaime-sama, who revealed who you were.”

Naruto blinked and shuddered. A fire suddenly raged inside him, choking his throat dry and constricting his chest to the point he could barely breathe. “What?” he whispered, seemingly not trusting his ears. “But why? Why would you do that?” he pleaded before suddenly screaming in hoarse fury. “They hate me! They hate me and make my life shit! Why did you do it!?”

“Tell me, Uzumaki-san, what is the duty of a ninja?” asked Danzo, unphased by the blistering anger that rolled off the boy like heat from a fire. He would allow him to rage, for now.

“You told them! You just told them! And they hate me! I didn't do nothing and they hate me!”

Gingoke slapped the boy behind his ears, hard, silencing his rant.

“What is the duty of a ninja, Uzumaki-san?” repeated Danzo.

“Don’t care!” hissed Naruto from behind gritted teeth.

“Do you not wish to become a ninja?”

Tightening his fist, Naruto slammed them with all his might against the table, causing it to bend and his bones to crack before he jumped to his feet. Hurt shot through his arms yet his scream was not one born of pain but blind anger.

“I don’t give a shit about being a ninja! I don’t give a shit about this village of bastards!”

Danzo observed the boy, saw how his sheer fury had singed the cushion he sat on, warped the table and robbed the painting directly behind him of its colours. Naruto’s anger was understandable so he would allow him to express it. When he had drafted the plan to out the boy’s status as a jinchuuriki, shortly after the attack, it was on the understanding that Hiruzen would properly lead Konohagakure towards her emotional recovery and that Naruto would be properly taken care of.

The second term of Hiruzen had been a show of crass incompetence. His old friend had had his will broken by the death of his successor and it had been up to Danzo, with the limited power of the ANBU, to protect the Kingdom of Fire.

Busy as he had been, it had taken years before he could levy enough influence in the court of the Hoshu to wrangle Naruto out of Hiruzen’s clutches.

“A ninja-” Naruto snarled but Danzo ignored him. The boy needed to hear it. It would bring him right where Danzo needed him to be. “A ninja is one who endures every challenge in order to do their duty. And the duty of a ninja of Konohagakure is to protect this village and this country, to nurture them with warmth and burn their enemies to ashes. That is the Will of Fire.”

The teen spat and Danzo fully expected liquid disdain to start dripping from his lips.

“Truthfully, Uzumaki-san, you have been a ninja since the day of your birth.”

Blue eyes blinked, unsure of what had just been said before they widened in surprise. The overwhelming pressure of the boy's chakra lessened and wavered. “I… What?”

“Not only were you assigned a most important duty by becoming the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, effectively protecting the village with your every breath, you endured the hardships this duty brought to you. The anger you feel is something you are owed and yet you never acted upon it. You never hurt any of the inhabitants of this village.”

Danzo bowed lightly. “I thank you for your continued service.”

Naruto was too stumped to say anything and slumped down, a pleasantly cool sensation blossoming in his chest. He just drank the old man's words like he would the most delicious ambrosia; as if they were the first praise he had ever received.

Danzo smiled inwardly as he saw the boy straighten his back imperceptibly. It was rare for him to be both manipulative and sincere. Yes, he was admirative of the boy’s pranks, a rather obvious - if clumsy - attempt at winning the villagers’ attention and affection. Anyone else would have lashed out; that Naruto hadn't spoke well of his character. The boy’s methods hadn’t been the best but expecting an ostracized, orphaned child no one bothered to help to do better was utter stupidity. Yes, he was thankful for his continued existence. Yondaime-sama might have executed the fuinjutsu but without Naruto, Konohagakure would have been in ruins before a solution could have been found.

He was in no way ashamed, however, to word it in a way that would win him the boy’s favours. Kaoukoku needed Naruto Uzumaki. Kaoukoku would have Naruto Uzumaki. Danzo would make sure of that.

“The worth of a ninja,” he continued, “is measured solely by how well they accomplish their duty. Certainly not through the eyes of ignorant, bigoted people. So far, you’ve done rather splendidly. Hence why I ask again, Uzumaki-san.” He riveted his sight to the boy’s azure gaze. “Do you not wish to become a ninja? Do you not wish to continue your duty?”

Silence draped the room in its mantle for a long time. His gaze cast down on the splintered table, Naruto mulled the old man’s words, features shifting from sheer astonishment into a contemplative frown.

The Academy was a proving ground except for him it had never been about becoming a ninja. It had been about being seen and it was why he had never truly tried. As the class clown, as the obnoxious troublemaker, as the always spurned yet relentless lover, the “how” didn’t matter; anytime his agemates laughed, anytime a teacher punished him, anytime Sakura hit him, they acknowledged him.

He never liked it. No, correction. He positively hated it, took absolutely no pleasure in it. Playing the idiot, the general annoyance was not a role he had taken because he found it funny. It had simply been the only way.

He wouldn't have been able to win people over through excellence. He had struggled for a time but without help, without support, he understood quickly that doing well was impossible.

He could, however, do badly and had decided to do just that.

A wave of disgust, of burning self-loathing, washed over him and carved a pit in his stomach. Tears threatened to spill again, of anger and contempt towards himself, but he clamped down on them. Whatever had happened in the past was in the past.

He had a duty. Had always had one, in fact, since the day of his birth. Something he could take pride in because he accomplished it with every breath he took. He protected Konohagakure.

Danzo observed the boy in front of him, observed as his too expressive eyes shifted, dimmed and shone according to the emotions he was feeling. Much like his parents he was, thought the old man. He observed and, after what felt like almost an hour, finally saw him come to a decision.

“You mean it?” whispered the teen, tentatively.

“Absolutely.” Danzo observed how the single word, said with unshakable confidence, lit the flame of resolve in the boy’s eyes.

Naruto breathed in, deeply. He had a duty, one that gave him worth and a reason to respect himself, a mark of acknowledgement beyond anything he could have hoped for.

He would be freed from the villagers. He didn't want to be seen by the likes of them. They had no right, no power to acknowledge him. He had a duty, something that only he could do.

A rare sense of peace settled within the boy's soul. He already protected Konohagakure but by becoming a ninja, he would protect her better.

Blue eyes hardened to lapis. “Then I will be a ninja.”

“Good.”

“But I can’t do it alone and I’m tired of begging for attention,” said Naruto in a poised, steady tone. The boy then pointed a thumb at Gingoku. “He told me I could become a ninja with you, so I expect help.”

“And I can definitely provide it. However, I have to warn you. The training will be difficult, more so than anything you've done up until now and I will expect dedication. Also, the ninja who serve the Hokage are those who defend and guide the people in the light. My men have one purpose and one purpose only.” Danzo glared murderously at the teen, freezing him with killing intent. “They burn all those who threaten Konohagakure. Do you understand?”

Naruto could barely muster the nerve to acquiesce.

Danzo alleviated the pressure on the boy. “Knowing that, do you still wish to join me?”

Naruto nodded, resolutely.


	2. Duty 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first year of the modern calendar of Kaoukoku is often believed to be the year of Izuna Uchiha's and Toka Senju's wedding. In truth, the first king and queen of our kingdom were married on the first day of the second year.  
> In fact, the calendar starts with the signature of the Naka Treaty, which partitioned the lands of the kingdom between the noble clans and the yet-to-be-established royal family.

“A shinobi’s duty is to accomplish the mission entrusted to them. Concerns such as fairness and honour are to be shelved during a mission. Duty is the frame through which a shinobi judges the morality of their actions and any action done in the line of duty is not to be questioned.”

Danzo’s flat voice droned on within the confines of a small dojo, somehow strong enough to overpower the echoes of flesh bruising flesh.

“Missions are done in teams, to increase the likelihood of success. Teamwork, or the lack of it, makes or breaks the mission. Hence why the only ethic a shinobi must entertain, apart from the accomplishment of their duty, is loyalty to their comrades. A team is a family.”

Naruto let out a pained grunt as a fist was buried in his side. The following strike impacted his nose, bloodying him. Gingoku was too fast, too strong, too endurant for him to be anything but defensive.

“All manners of strategies should always be considered to ensure the success of the mission and only the one most likely to succeed should be followed. To fight is only one of many possible courses of action. It is risky by nature, often synonymous with failure but sometimes, it is unavoidable.”

The boy endured Kingoku wailing on him as best as he could. His blood was drumming ceaselessly against his ears, drowning every other sound. His breathing was ragged, burning his lungs. His limbs were getting increasingly heavy, moving like pieces of lead through molasses.

He refused to stop, however, refused to go down. He had promised Danzo his all and his all was what he would give.

“A fight, when started, is a mission in and of itself. Hence, the same rules apply.”

Gingoku caught Naruto under his chin with a knife-hand. The boy choked and finally surrendered to unconsciousness when a fist crashed against his temple.

“The most fundamental strategy is concealment. It is a strategy that should always be utilized in all situations while on a mission and that should be planned for outside of it. Deception is a game of layers and applies to a variety of concepts.”

Naruto blocked a strike with his elbow and rotated, launching an open palm strike at Kingoku's joint. His chakra, flowing haphazardly in the shodan kata of the Senfuha taijutsu, empowered his body a little and made him almost fast enough to connect. His hand was slapped away and he was rewarded with a fist to the chin for his efforts.

“Concealing intent goes a long way towards catching the opponent off guard. Your body should not tell tales, be it of your pain, your confidence or of your objectives. The same goes for your apparent acts and speeches; they should merely be traps leading your opponents to their downfall.”

Gingoku punched, hard and fast, and caught Naruto’s sternum. Because he was horizontally stuck to a wall by his chakra, the boy could not jump back far enough to absorb the force behind the impact and immediately found it difficult to breathe. He forcefully set his features in a mask of neutrality. His laboured exhales would betray him but there was no need to show pain.

He couldn’t stop yet. He had limits he had to break.

“Obviously, your opponent might attempt to employ the same strategy. The goal is for you to see underneath their deception while presenting them with a puzzle they cannot solve in time. This idea should translate into all that you do.”

Overextending, Naruto found his arm trapped in a lock and pulled in by Kingoku, who swept his legs from under him. Before he understood what was happening to him, the boy was choked into unconsciousness.

“In fact, being a shinobi is a commitment of a lifetime. To conceal your intent, your next move, your true aim will mean your and your team’s survival and success. It should be reflected in the method of your thinking, the manner in which you strike, the way you live your life.”

Naruto redirected a kick away from his centre, using the bare minimum of necessary movement. He snaked a retaliatory punch at Gingoku’s knee and felt the cartilage and sinew shift under his strike. His face, perfectly blank, showed none of his satisfaction.

“Hurt and loss are to be endured. Emotions are to be concealed from the enemy. In the thought process, they are to be tempered by rationality and weighed against duty and loyalty. The moment an emotion would make you act irrationally or against your duty or loyalty, it must be ruthlessly discarded, to be resolved at a later point.”

His chakra was cycling, slightly forceful still, in the pattern of the shodan kata, giving him greater strength, speed and flexibility altogether. He swayed around or slapped away most strikes, tanking the few he could do nothing about, dishing out punishment every opportunity he found. He sported a busted lip, a colourful black eye and he suspected his right side had a split bone but little by little, he could see Kingoku slow down and stumble in the water they were fighting upon.

Never stopping. Always pushing.

“Your only reprieve shall happen here, in Konohagakure. On a mission, a shinobi is but the instrument of their village’s will. Here, however, is a safe place. Here, the game of deception does not need to be played as deeply, as constantly as it must be played outside. Here, in Konohagakure, is home.”

Naruto’s clawed fingers nearly found Gingoku’s throat. The boy pressed on and stepped forth, striking with his knuckles. A strangled cough was his reward. Slipping under an attempt to hug him to unconsciousness, Naruto hammered the inside of his partner’s knees before lunging for a takedown. He promptly found himself in an armlock but had it countered with a leglock.

“Well done, Uzumaki-san.”

Barely a month through the wringer, mused Danzo, and Naruto had already gone beyond his expectations. Sitting on a cushion behind a low desk, in an office devoid of any luxury, the old man took a sip out of a cup of tea as he eyed the report in his hand.

Their first few days had been rough, the boy so used to being dismissed that his clownish act hadn’t been easy for him to shed. Once he realized that Danzo and his helpers - exclusively Gin and Kingoku - weren’t going anywhere and were indeed here to help him, Naruto proved to be a dedicated student eager to please his teachers.

Danzo simply had had to adapt his methods to the boy’s peculiar brand of kinesthetic learning. As long as he linked a bodily or chakra manipulation to a sensation, Naruto would assimilate it in record time.

That wasn’t to say the boy was intellectually obtuse. They had strengthened his vocabulary and introduced concepts of increasing complexity little by little, steadily developing his capacity for abstraction and critical thinking. Once they convinced the boy he wasn’t inherently stupid - as his previous teachers had encouraged him to believe - he showed both a remarkable intelligence and an agile intellect.

In a single month, Naruto’s chakra control had progressed to the point he could fight above water without a second thought. As a result, his mastery over the Senfuha taijutsu had skyrocketed and his martial art sharpened to a deadly edge. The clone jutsu was no longer a problem, though Danzo had him learn the much more advanced - and solid - shadow clone jutsu. As expected, the boy’s chakra reserves and newly developed control had allowed him to learn the technique in a single afternoon. Danzo was now considering lobbying Hiruzen for access to the mass shadow clone jutsu. Given how Naruto had taken to the original technique, there was a good chance he would be able to perform the more advanced - and more dangerous - version of it. 

A single afternoon. The old man squashed a wave of annoyance at the thought. If Naruto had been properly trained, he would be a chunin on his way to jonin by now. It was such a waste of everyone’s time.

The best thing - or worst, depending on how one wanted to look at it - was that Naruto’s loyalty to him had by now become unshakable. A few honest words of encouragement, of acknowledgement of his worth, had been enough. Danzo shuddered at the thought that ill-intentioned people could have caught unto it and exploited it

An irreplaceable symbol of Kaoukoku military power would have been lost to their hostile neighbours.

He lifted his eye from the report and looked at Gin and Kingoku. “Naruto is given another month to progress further and be where he has to be before missions begin for him.”

“Yes, commander.”

The boy had been reforged physically and exposed to a novel way of thinking. Now was the time to see if he could crystallize it all into something coherent and useful. Then, the time for tempering him would finally come.

Dismissing the two instructors with a satisfied nod, Danzo took a clean scroll, his best pen and some ink. Hiruzen had a lot of clout within the halls of the Golden Flame Palace and having the Hoshu act against him had taken a lot of efforts on Danzo's part.

Writing a letter to assure the King that his decision had been correct was the least Danzo could do.

In a clearing somewhere within the woods surrounding Konohagakure, Naruto stood at attention in front of Ginkaku.

“Concealment is one of the most fundamental tactics of a warrior. It's probably quite abstract to you still but it has very real applications. From today on, you will learn to hide your presence. Now what, in your opinion, makes up the presence, the 'feel', of an individual?”

“I identify sight, smell, sound and chakra signature.”

“You are correct.”

Naruto smiled widely.

Gingoku continued. “To hide can mean concealing yourself from the eyes of others, from their nose, their ears or their sensory sensibility. To hide perfectly, however, means disappearing from all four of their senses simultaneously. Are you following me so far?”

“Yes, Gin-sensei.”

“Good. Now, how would you go about concealing any of these four tells?”

“Hiding from sight seems obvious: operating by night and exploiting every available corner and shadow would work. I know genjutsu may also be used. Although active use of chakra would mean someone with a developed sensory ability would pick up on it. I imagine erasing your scent can be done chemically. Being silent requires a solid awareness of one’s clothes and environment.” Naruto squinted in thought, head cocked to the side. “I do not see how one could hide their chakra signature.”

“All good answers, well done.”

The boy positively beamed.

“The reason why a ninja can conceal their chakra from a sensor,” explained Gingoku, “lies in the nature of chakra itself.”

“The nature of chakra?”

“Do you know what chakra is?”

The boy hummed low before he shook his head. “Well, there is the theory of the 'One Thousand Parts of Creation', how chakra supposedly makes up everything, how its Yin and Yang counterparts are supposed to be the origin of diversity and change. But if chakra were everywhere around us, any sensory ability would easily be overwhelmed, right?”

“A logical conclusion but one made without knowledge of the inner workings of a sensor's ability. While everything is made of chakra, everything is still unique. Every part of Creation is distinguishable from one another because they each possess a specific signature. Trained sensors can distinguish between different signatures and identify humans.”

“I thought chakra was in constant flux. How could a signature be constant enough for a sensor to pick up on it?”

“This flux can be fast or slow. The scale depends on what you consider. The winds are in constant motion, so is the sea, so is the earth but each at a different rhythm.”

Naruto nodded in understanding. “Can someone fake their signature? Enough to fool a sensor I mean?”

Gingoku nodded and, under the shadows of the grimacing mask, Naruto saw the man’s eyes crinkle. “Manipulating one’s chakra is the basis of all jutsu. Taijutsu, in particular, is all about manipulating one’s internal chakra flow in order to gain more strength. So yes, faking your signature is possible but it is in itself a tell that a competent sensor will detect.”

The boy squinted. “So it is all a matter of compromise?”

“What made you reach this conclusion?”

“For a taijutsu to be efficient, chakra must be constantly locked in the appropriate pattern of circulation required by the kata,” said Naruto, reciting his lessons from memory. “Faking your signature would require to interrupt this circulation and would leave you vulnerable...” The boy’s eyes widened. “Unless there was more than a single kata for a taijutsu.”

“It is time you learned of Senfuha ni and sandan. Working at it diligently should better your chakra control which should, in turn, allow you to learn the false surroundings jutsu. Are you ready to work hard?”

Naruto nodded eagerly. “Yes, sensei!” He frowned.”Though wouldn’t a sensor still be able to detect me?”

"The deception lies in the fact that, by modifying your signature, the sensor will lose track of you, momentarily. It's not perfect, obviously: if you give them the opportunity, they will identify you once more."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "Got it."

"Good. Let's start the new kata."

"Yes, sensei!"

“Alright, set your feet in the horse stance and focus on your chakra.”

The boy complied immediately, immersing himself in the flow of his inner energy.

For the longest time, moulding his chakra had been a challenge for him. According to Iruka, it ought to be like manipulating supple clay but to Naruto, it always felt like he was moving molten steel. When he had reported it in the Academy, he had been brushed aside. Danzo, Gin and Kingoku had taken him very seriously and had provided him with various exercises to make the flow his to control.

Moulding chakra was as much a physical task as it was mental. While Yang had to be moved by breathing and mudra, Yin obeyed focus. Once Naruto understood that he had to think of his will like a hammer and his lungs as the billows of a forge, it instantly became easier.

Cycling his chakra in Ren - the tranquil state - the boy tasted its potency, its volatility. The flow of golden particles of power roared through the eight gates, ready to answer his call. He did not even need the mudra of the ram to centre himself anymore.

Taijutsu, the art of augmenting one’s physical capacities through chakra, required said energy to flow in a set pattern, a kata. To make integrating said pattern easier, it would often be associated with a set of actual stances, motions and strikes, each one linked to one part of the pattern.

The Senfuha taijutsu, which promoted strength, speed and flexibility equally, was no different.

“From your hara to your feet, hands to your waist, half ram. Advance and strike, back fist, half rat. From your feet to your fist, make your chakra follow the torque of the strike. Send back. Advance and strike, back fist in half rat and same flux.”

Under the careful eyes of his instructor, Naruto ran through the new kata, slowly at first then faster, forcing his chakra to follow each transfer of momentum. He would do so for the rest of the day.

Hours later, sitting on his bunk in a perfect lotus with his hair still wet from his bath, Naruto was meditating, immersing himself in the thrumming rhythm of his chakra. Slowly, he deployed the mesh of his will and, like a sieve, filtered the energy, probing it carefully. Encrypted within Yin - mostly - and Yang - somewhat -, the memories and experiences of the shadow clone he had sent to the library for the day were waiting.

The boy had been doing it for two weeks now. While he trained mostly physical skill with Gingoku, his shadow clone learned a variety of knowledge under Kingoku’s guidance. A physical construct born from the equal partition of the user’s chakra, a shadow clone imitated the original to a “T” and anything it experienced or learned was automatically imprinted in its chakra. When the jutsu dispelled, the remaining chakra was absorbed by the user.

Which meant this remotely acquired knowledge could be retrieved and used.

It was no easy task. Firstly, it required a level of focus and stillness that made Naruto jittery, almost out of reflex. Secondly, the manner in which memories and experiences were engraved in chakra was far from straightforward. It wasn't as easy as simply evoking them: the cloned memories weren't linked to any clear sensation. They couldn't be seen as a painting, heard like music or felt through touch.

Instead, Naruto had to solve a puzzle of sorts. If he viewed his knowledge like specifically shaped reliefs, then his clones left holes, carved in the reverse way normal knowledge was. Each hole could be mirrored, reconstructed and interpreted but only through the lens of what he already knew.

He was progressing, the process becoming increasingly precise and quick with each passing day but the test he had to complete every day between his morning workout and his breakfast showed he could become better still.

Little by little, Naruto absorbed the day’s lesson, a series of tactical games, mock missions and planning. Every day, the concept of concealment was made clearer by the various teachings of his instructors. What at first seemed to him like an abstract concept was rooted further and further in reality.

It took half an hour for Naruto to assimilate his clone’s experiences. Opening his eyes, the boy was greeted by the sight of his room. Directly across from him, three scrolls hung from the walls, each bearing one of Danzo’s most fundamental mantras.

For a month and a half now, he had been living within the ANBU headquarters. It had been weird, at first, to abandon his old place but as the bed-chamber was small yet undeniably comfortable, he hadn’t given it any more thought. With clean tatami mats on the ground, delicate panels of wood and paper to hide the walls of stone, a stove of cast iron to provide heat, a bed laid next to it and a large window to let the light in above a low working table, Naruto had everything he needed.

His gaze glazed as his thoughts turned inwards once more. His room was comfortable. His meals were both tasty and nourishing, though he missed ramen. There was always hot water to take a shower after a tough day. The training was demanding but he felt himself getting steadily stronger. His teachers listened to him, answered his questions and praised him when he did well.

It felt like his first taste of water after crossing a desert. On the other hand, failing them had become its own punishment. The burn of shame and guilt, when he did not try hard enough, was its own motivation to avoid it. He wouldn’t disappoint.

He did not miss Konohagakure. He knew that he was technically still inside the village but as his only contacts were with Danzo and the two instructors Gingoku and Kingoku, it felt like he lived in his own little world. He had everything he needed.

Naruto sighed lightly and lay upon his bed, hands laced under his neck. In two weeks, if he performed adequately, he would join a team and, after a period of acclimatization, he would start taking missions. In two weeks, he would earn his mask. A shiver ran up his spine and the boy trembled for a bit at the cool touch of excitement.

He hoped it would go well with his team. Would they know? Would they care? Would he be able to form any kind of connection with them, even something cordial like with his sensei?

Taking a deep breath, Naruto emptied his mind from those considerations, focusing on the writings on the three scrolls instead.

Duty, mission, team.

There was no need getting worked up over something he had no control over. His team would be ANBU, trained to favour logic over emotion; as long as he was on his best behaviour, they would have no reason to be wary of him. He could not force them to be more than acquaintances to him but they would have no reason to be hostile. And as the code required, they would be loyal to him as long as he was loyal to them. It would be the first step.

Exhaling, the boy closed his eyes and allowed the last of his thoughts to stream away. Slowly, he relaxed his breathing, no longer controlling it consciously. One by one, his muscles loosened to a state of rest. Naruto drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

When morning came, he awoke perfectly rested and refreshed. After a quick yawn and a few stretches, he exited his room and walked up the hallway to enter the common bathroom. He had yet to meet anyone there and so proceeded to go through his ablutions. Eyes clear from the nightly crust and bladder emptied, he passed on a training gi before directing his steps towards exit well.

With a salute, he greeted Gin and Kingoku before crossing the two forefingers of both his hands in front of him.

From his frame, chakra flowed like an ethereal wisp of transparent silk and solidified into his perfect replica.

“Let’s get to work.”

Both Naruto nodded firmly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taijutsu (体術): lit. Body Technique. A branch of ninjutsu which aims to empower one's body by internally circulating one's chakra in a specific way.


	3. Duty 3 - end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Historic texts describe Hashirama Senju as a good-natured man of incredible power and oft credit his brother, Tobirama Senju, with the political manoeuvering needed to establish Kaoukoku. This notion, I'll tell you right now, is completely erroneous.
> 
> Hashirama Senju was a crafty politician, a man who successfully united the warlords of the Moriden into the strongest nation since the Ootsutsuki dominion of old. From compromises to blackmail to the establishment of an almost religious creed known today as the Will of Fire, the Shodai Hokage used any mean at his disposal to establish Kaoukoku into the powerful kingdom it is today.
> 
> Madara Uchiha, a like-minded man and Hashirama's staunchest ally, was a big help during this process, acting from the shadows.

Naruto awoke with a start. Through his window, the pale light of dawn filtered in his room. The boy yawned, by now conditioned to the early wake-up seeing as protesting had not been an option. Out of reflex, his eyes sought and settled on the three scrolls nailed to the wall across his bed.

“Complete your mission”. The one on the left bore the order in solid, broad strokes.

“Protect your comrades.” The one on the right answered in equally powerful calligraphy.

“Uphold your duty”, read the middle one with sobriety, an obvious axiom. Of the three, it felt the steadiest, the three words a true pillar of resolve, painted with unwavering conviction.

Naruto silently repeated the mantras.

Rolling out of his bunk, he stretched and tidied up his bedsheets before making his way to the common bathroom, where he went through a short ablution. His morning rituals complete, he put on his training gi - and he noticed the garment was already showing its threads - laced his waraji over his socks, and left the living quarters to enter the main hall, where his two instructors were waiting for him.

Naruto saluted.

“Today is the day of your last challenge. If you succeed, you will have earned your hitai-ate and your men-yoroi.”

The boy allowed the excitement to wash over him, shuddering ever so slightly and enjoying the sensation of his heart pumping blood against his ears before he breathed out, forcefully purging himself from the emotion.

“I am ready.”

Gingoku nodded. “Yes. As much as you can be. We will only go through a light workout session. If you pass the test, you will rest for the remainder of the day. Your team will welcome you tomorrow.”

Suddenly, Naruto realized that the two masked instructors would cease to be such a constant of his life. He had seen both of them every day for two entire months and had grown accustomed to their presence, their personal quirks and customs. There was something funny, he mused, about how quickly something could become a habit. He offered a deep bow.

“Thank you for your guidance. I will succeed.”

“You will,” answered Kingoku, uncharacteristically solemn. “Now, let’s go.”

Following the two ANBU, Naruto climbed a spiralling set of stairs. Before long, the trio eventually reached a trapdoor that opened in a shed located above the Hokage Monument. From the ridge of the mountain, two hundred shaku above the valley, the view over the village was without equal.

For a second, Naruto swept a glance across Konohagakure. The Naka river speared through it, north by southeast, carving a deep ravine in the middle of the Moriden forest. Iron-oaks and Everpines stood tall, many almost as high as the Hokage Tower; true titans of wood, they shielded everything underneath with their sprawling branches.

Nestled in the lowest point of the ravine, was Konohagakure. Houses of wood painted green and blue and covered by slanted roofs of ochre tiles, dirt paths cleared from the underbrush and roughly paved by large slabs of stone, the Hi no Ishi no Torii, carved in red mahogany, opening the warded trail to Meiyaku Temple, the bridge of reconciliation, symbolically crossing the Naka in the middle of the village: Naruto saw it all and more.

Inevitably, his eyes settled on the red outer walls and the coal-black roofs of the Crimson Keep. Girdled by a powerful bulwark of interlocked ashlar and divided into two superposed courtyards, the citadel was dominated by the five storeys of the Hokage Tower, where the Hokage lived and ruled. Two wings flanked it, one per courtyard, hosting countless administrative offices, the Academy, the archives, the forges and many more organs vital to the country’s military.

There was no doubt that the environment was charming. Naruto sneered ever so slightly; such a shame for the people living here to be bigoted idiots, he thought uncharitably.

Swivelling on his heels, the boy departed towards his usual training ground at a light jog. Over the two months, his instructors had progressively switched from a dojo to a more spacious open area.

The top of the Hokage Mountain was covered by the Moriden - the entirety of the Midori range and at large, the Heartlands, were - and Naruto had to navigate a dense undergrowth for half an hour before he reached a rather large clearing. A quarter of it was carved in a basin full of water and there was a rudimentary practice dummy standing in the middle.

Losing no time, Naruto went through a series of stretches and callisthenics. Natural strength was important to develop, as a taijutsu could only multiply what was already there, not create power out of nothing. It was a loop as well: physical endurance was needed to exert control over Yang.

Forty-five minutes later, the boy had completed his warm-up and now stood in front of the dummy. The lifeless figure was useful to think of and test striking progressions, particularly for Naruto whose kenpo was mostly freeform, a collage of many techniques rooted in one philosophy.

To be unpredictable.

Deception was a game of layers and most fighters generally opted to reduce the wind-up before their strikes to nothing and erase the tells of their assault as much as they could. Ideally, only when performing a feint would they allow their movements to be somewhat telegraphed.

Naruto chose to ignore convention and make it the core of his style. What should be a punch to the chin morphed into an elbow strike to the sternum, bending turned into a mull-kick, cartwheeling was considered an acceptable lead up to a toss over the shoulder.

Gin and Kingoku had still too much experience and physicality over him to be outmatched by his style but the fact Naruto could even trade blows with the two ANBU in the first place, putting his resilience to use in order to focus on offence, spoke well of his progress.

The boy lunged at the mannequin, suddenly bending his legs to shift height and strike the dummy’s knees before steadying himself up against the ground with his left hand, rotating his left feet hard and sending his right foot careening towards the wooden head. Rolling his entire weight backwards on his right hand, Naruto righted himself on all four and closed the distance in the blink of an eye, using his momentum to abruptly send out a knee and a palm strike, respectively to the dummy’s stomach and throat. Folding his elbow, he impacted the sternum instead.

“Enough,” Gingoku called, after another hour of dummy boxing. “Stretch, recuperate and come spar with me.”

Naruto immediately stopped. “Yes sensei.”

In the shadows of his office, Danzo was studying a record laid in front of him. Mask Neko, real name Yugao Uzuki, chunin, proficient kenjutsu and genjutsu user. Loyal and duty-driven, there was no doubt about it and her mission record was a testament to that. She held connections, however, to people who could try to abuse them in order to gain undue access to something out of their reach.

At the same time, he could use her in the opposite way, to disseminate the appropriate amount of information to the appropriate people concerning certain matters. If he could convince her of what was best, then she would follow his recommendations, feeling that she owed it to the boy.

Yugao Uzuki had been somewhat of a protégé of Kushina Uzumaki, refining her kenjutsu at her side. She was not a vocal individual, as an ANBU should, but it was easy for Danzo to see she was greatly dissatisfied with the treatment Naruto Uzumaki had had to endure. She had brewed him an exceptionally good tea on the day he had informed his agents that the boy had joined the ranks, even if it were only on a probationary period.

While she had no lost love for Hiruzen Sarutobi, she considered the previous holder of the Kuroinu mask as her senpai and so would find a way to relay news of the boy to him. It did not have to be a bad thing per se. If it could motivate Kakashi Hatake to set his head straight, then it would even be good. The risk was for Hatake to be in denial of what was effectively a fait accompli. Danzo had no time to suffer the demands of an A-ranked - and sliding - ninja suffering from depression.

The old man considered the conundrum for another hour. Yugao was a necessity: she would act as a grounding presence for the boy, reinforcing his bonds to his team and ANBU at large, strengthening his loyalty. Ultimately reaching the conclusion that the gamble would be worth it, he took another folder out of the small pile in front of him.

Mask Tora, real name Tenzo - unconfirmed lineage -, jonin, proficient hengaijutsu user, doton and suiton oriented, with lower-grade fuinjutsu skills. Loyal and duty-driven, no doubt about it either. The fact he had the same connection to Hatake as Yugao did was inconsequential now, decided Danzo, given the decision he had just reached. Tenzo was a necessity anyway.

Opening the third folder, Danzo was met by a black gaze and darker hair. Mask Shiroitachi, real name Sai - unconfirmed lineage - chunin, proficient hengaijutsu user with average iryojutsu skills.

A medic in need of healing. Danzo felt his lips arch at the thought but the smile was mirthless. He hoped Naruto would connect with the girl and help her. In spite of his claims, the boy very much sought connections and while the attention of Danzo, Gin and Kingoku had been a balm to the boy’s heart, he needed friends.

Why not? It would be a net good. No need to kill anyone.

Danzo smiled, satisfied. His duty to Konohagakure and the Fire Kingdom often necessitated cruel decisions from him and he would never deny the extremities his responsibilities had pushed him to. He took no pleasure from it, pride yes but no other satisfaction than the knowledge he did what was expected of him.

He was a ninja, however. Which meant he was loyal to his teammates, as he would be towards his family. And as far as he was concerned, his agents were his family. If he could make their life even a little better, he would. The Will of Fire required as much from him.

Naruto tore into the steaming bun, filled with meat and vegetables and hummed lightly. Chewing carefully - his jaw was still smarting from a particularly violent strike, courtesy of Gingoku - he savoured the taste. For two weeks now, his meals had been replaced every other day by tasteless pills and bars, in order to get him accustomed to field rations.

He understood the logic, understood why mission food was the way it was but it was still disgusting and so he would enjoy every real meal he had.

“What is your favourite food?”

Naruto blinked and looked up at Kingoku, who was looking at him intently from behind the silver ape mask.

“What’s it about?”

“Simply answer the question.”

The boy shrugged. “Definitely ramen then. They are best when it’s Teuchi who cooks.”

“Teuchi?”

“Yeah! Teuchi, the boss of Ichiraku Ramen!” explained Naruto with enthusiasm before his features adopted a pensive countenance.

He supposed if there were two people he missed, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame were it. Their little restaurant had always been open for him and they had always greeted him with a smile. Teuchi had even gone so far as to offer him a bowl or two for free, once in a while. He had never questioned it before but after nearly two months without seeing them, he felt like a thief of sorts. Naruto shook his head.

“What’s your favourite food, Kingoku-sensei?”

“Sashimi.”

“What’s that?”

“Fine slices of raw fish. Only good when you’re near the sea.”

Naruto offered his instructor an unconvinced pout. Raw fish? He shuddered at the mere thought.

“Don’t diss it before you try it.”

The boy raised his hands in preemptive surrender. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Good.”

Silence returned for a second and Naruto rook another mouthful of his bun before turning towards Gingoku.

“What about you, sensei?”

“Not telling.”

“Why?”

“Habits and favourites are a weakness.”

“Always so serious.”

“The day you get poisoned while eating ramen, you’ll understand.”

Kingoku sniggered discreetly but Naruto caught the slight shake of the man’s shoulders. “There is a story, isn’t there?” He asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Finish your meal,” interrupted Gingoku before Kingoku had time to say anything.

Once breakfast was finished and until midday, Naruto drilled shurikenjutsu, against the dummy first then against Kingoku, practised his limited hengai and genjutsu by performing the shadow clone jutsu and sparring with it and trying to escape from his instructors’ sight with the false surrounding jutsu and, to finish, repeatedly ran through the three kata of the Senfuha taijutsu. After a light meal and contrary to usual, the trio left the training ground and returned to the headquarters.

Naruto felt a shiver run up his spine and a pit slowly opened under his stomach. As he followed his instructors down the staircase to the fort, his heart slowly but surely accelerated and cold, sticky sweat formed on his brow and between his shoulder blades. Forcefully, the boy wrangled his breath under control and fought the mixture of stress and excitement that welled inside him.

Whatever the final test was, he would not allow himself to fail. He knew for a fact that he was stronger than ever, his techniques and tactics leagues above what he had been capable of in the Academy. He scoffed at the mere thought of comparing himself to how he had been two months ago. As he was now, he could defeat the best of his old classmates without breaking a sweat.

Duty, mission, comrades. He recited the words - no, the mantra. There was nothing outside that. He felt ready. He was ready.

Suitably hyped, Naruto offered Danzo a bow. The old man had been waiting in the main hall of the headquarters, the place where they had first met.

“Are you ready for your last challenge?” asked the old man.

Naruto gazed at him with burning, steel-like eyes and nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. Follow.”

Before he could take a step forward, Naruto felt two hands fall on his shoulders. Turning his head around, he saw the two masked apes give him a nod. The pair was, as always, strangely in sync, a small part of his mind mused distractedly.

The boy smirked before answering in kind, features set in stone and eyes ablaze. He would do them proud. The two instructors let him go and he marched on after Danzo.

The pair took another set of stairs and went down. For the first time in two months, Naruto realized that he was getting out of the headquarters. He followed Danzo in religious silence - curiously blanking out at one point - then through roughly carved tunnels until they arrived in the foundations of a large building.

It took the boy a second to connect the dots and understand they were underneath the citadel, in some sort of dungeon. Danzo opened a small door, too low for the old man to pass through without curving his back and the pair found themselves in a network of dark corridors and cells.

Without stopping, they navigated the maze-like hallways, passed a few guards who ignored them and reached a cell that nothing distinguished from the other. Suddenly, Danzo turned towards Naruto, halting the boy in his tracks.

In the old man’s right hand was a tanto, proffered towards Naruto.

“Inside this cell is a target who has been sentenced to death. You are the one who will kill them.”

There was no warning and all of a sudden, Naruto felt his mouth dry up. He felt his throat tighten. He felt his blood hammering against his temples and his heart missing a beat before going haywire. Only then did his brain register the words.

He eyed the tanto. The sheathed blade was resting in Danzo’s palm, waiting to be taken. He had to grab it, enter the cell and kill whoever was inside. It was so very easy.

Kill the person inside? Why? What had they done to deserve death? Wasn’t it enough to put them in a cell from which they would never escape?

Before his mind could split further out of his control, three simple words came to him, spearing through his swirling, chaotic thoughts. Three simple words that had been hammered inside his brain again and again for two entire months, from the first rays of dawn to the last speck of twilight. A mantra that was now ready to be tempered, branded in his flesh.

Duty. Mission. Comrades.

He was a ninja. His duty was to protect and nurture Konohagakure and the Fire Kingdom and endure any and all challenges his duty would have him face. Such required the Will of Fire.

In the line of this duty, there existed no concern outside of completing one’s mission and preserving one’s team.

“Is…” Naruto breathed in deeply, once, twice and trice then swallowed anxiously, trying his hardest to wet his lips and tongue. “Is this an order?” he squeaked in a whisper.

“Yes.”

The word cracked like a whip in the quiet corridor and erased the remaining doubt that lingered in the boy’s psyche, like a fire torching wastes into nothingness. He would not disappoint Danzo.

Naruto saw a hand rise and take the tanto, realized belatedly it was his when he felt the weight of the weapon in his fist and shuddered. Slowly, he swivelled his head to look at the reinforced cell door.

His right foot weighed him down like a block of lead when he stepped forward. Lifting his left foot was slightly easier and the third step came to him easily. He pushed the door open.

The sight killed his momentum.

The cell was bare, cold and humid. In the middle, sitting on a chair, a naked man was struggling against a bunch of ropes, a bag over his head and a gag over his mouth, given his muffled grunts. The door squeaked and the individual immediately stopped moving, his head clearly turned towards the entrance.

“Hoo eeh ‘her’?”

Naruto did not hear him. His breath escaped his leash. In front of him was his target. His blood drowned his surroundings in the deafening rumbling of angry drums. In front of him was his duty.

But who? Duty. Mission. Comrades. The rest did not matter.

It took him three tries to grab the handle of the dagger, his hands shaking almost uncontrollably, his palms wet. The edge of the blade gleamed in the scarce light, sharpened to kill.

But why? Duty. Mission. Comrades. The rest did not matter.

“He’ho?”

Naruto raised his arm once but it was too heavy. His grip was awkward around the handle of the tanto. He was too far from the target. The target breathed too loudly. The target’s heart was beating with too much energy. The target’s muscles were straining too insistently against the bindings. The target was too alive.

Suddenly, the training dummy he had trained with for the past two months came to his mind and replaced the sight in front of him.

Naruto blinked. In the middle of the cell, sitting on a chair and propped up by ropes, a lifeless mannequin of wood and straw was waiting for him to practice striking one of the eight vital points. The boy blinked once more. No, not a mannequin. A man, a breathing man, a sweating man, a living man.

A target to terminate, designed to you by your duty, retorted a cold, dispassionate voice in the back of his mind. A mannequin. Protect your comrades. Complete your mission. Do your duty.

Do not disappoint your teachers.

Kill.

Naruto screamed, at the top of his lungs. He screamed and raised his arms and lunged and stabbed. Blood erupted, boiling hot and sticky, from a gaping wound. The boy kept screaming as the tanto swung up and down. He kept screaming as crimson, viscous liquid cascaded all over him from a severed aorta. He kept screaming as he hacked at rapidly cooling flesh.

Duty, mission, comrades. The mantra echoed loudly under his skull, drowning all other thoughts amidst the slaughter.

He kept screaming until something yanked him away and robbed the tanto from his grip. The boy looked up at Danzo, eyes wide and feverish.

“Your mission is accomplished, ninja. You did well.”

Under the layer of blood that smeared his face, Naruto's visage split. The pearly white of his sharp teeth, showing under the strained grin of his lips, gleamed beneath the dripping crimson. Then, he hunched over and vomited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hengaijutsu (変外術) (from the kanji for "change", "out(side)" and "technique"): any technique that project chakra outside of the body while changing its shape and/or nature. Less specific than Genjutsu or Iryojutsu.


	4. Blood in the paddies 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The founding of Kaoukoku precipitated massive changes through the neighbouring territories.
> 
> The scattered rulers of the northern steppes banded under one banner and Tsuchimikado coalesced from this alliance, expanding south to conquer fertile lands. The tribes of Kaminari raided Kaoukoku's eastern borders in an attempt to assert their domination over the region. The constant skirmishes eventually spiralled in a full-blown war that lasted four years.
> 
> In the end, the rich hot springs from Yuunotani stayed under the rule of Kaoukoku, the Kaminarian beaten bloody by Madara Uchiha and the Uzumaki. Meanwhile, Hashirama Senju demonstrated his full power against the warriors of Tsuchimikado, establishing a border that snaked through the regions of Ame, Kusa and Takiyama, border that the Shodai Hokage immediately fortified with countless fortresses.
> 
> It was the last time the Fire Dragon was seen on a battlefield and Hashirama passed the mantle of Hokage to his brother a year after the war's end.
> 
> Us nomads from Kazehara looked at this ebullition with amusement. We knew that even the greatest empires were ultimately nothing but castles of sand before the claws of Time. We knew that blood was too precious to be spilt in needless wars. Such humid wisdom, however, would soon desert our mind, replaced by dry arrogance and greed.

Naruto was sitting in seiza in the main hall of the headquarters, in front of a delicate painting of mountains plunged in a rolling fog. Eyes closed, the boy was immersed in Ren, the natural flow of his chakra. Body relaxed and mind clear, he carefully tasted each of his breaths, felt how his lungs expanded and his sternum rose.

Three individuals entered the room soon and sat in front of him. Naruto opened his eyes, taking in the appearance of the trio before he offered them a kotow.

The only man had a stocky build, jet-black eyes and short, spiky brown hair cut in the same reglementary fashion Naruto’s were. One was a woman in her early twenties, with long, out-of-regulation purple hair gathered in a bun - which suggested an infiltration specialist -, a pointy nose and chestnut coloured eyes. The last one was a girl slightly older than Naruto, with black hair, pale skin and dark eyes set in an emotionless mien.

Riveting his blue gaze on the trio, he introduced himself, his voice steady and confident.

“I am Naruto Uzumaki, mask Anaguma.”

“Tenzo, mask Tora,” greeted the man with a nod.

“Yugao Uzuki, mask Neko,” the older woman answered.

“Sai,” said the other in a monotone. “Mask Shiroitachi.”

Naruto withheld a relieved breath. None of his teammates had so much as flinched at the mention of his name. He knew they had probably been informed beforehand, like his seniors, but he still saw it as good news.

“Our team,” explained Tenzo, “has been activated under codename alpha. For the foreseeable future and a minimum of six months, we will be at the forefront of all operations, under my lead. As of today, we have exactly one week to synchronize our teamwork and get to know one another. Any question?”

Naruto raised a hand. “How will we achieve that, taichou?”

“We will train and eat together every day. In addition to further sharpening our skills and sparring against one another, we will work specifically on team tactics.”

The boy nodded, satisfied.

“Let’s begin.”

Training with people who weren’t Gin and Kingoku was eye-opening for Naruto. While his two instructors, both men, had made kenpo their strength, Neko and Shiroitachi compensated their weaker build with deadly kenjutsu. Tora, meanwhile, used shuriken and hengaijutsu to keep any hostile at a distance in the first place.

In spite of his limited abilities, his more experienced teammates never made any disparaging remarks about it, only providing advice when he asked. His own style evolved as a result, mixing with bukijutsu in order to counter the two women’s blades and integrating the shadow clone jutsu to attract and divert long-distance attacks.

The boy learned to fit in the standard formations of a four-man cell as well. Be it rear guard, flank or spearhead, Naruto was shown the how and why of the different roles. He fought against each of his new teammates, with one of them against the other two, three against one and one against three.

After a single week, Naruto had the distinct impression that he had evolved more than in the two months under Gin and Kingoku’s watch.

Their shared meals were the boy’s favourite moments. While the members of his team were much less inclined to speak than him, they did not begrudge him his need to fill the silence. Over the week, Naruto established a tentative comradeship.

Tenzo was the most easy-going of the trio, someone who laughed - or rather, chuckled - easily. He had a passion for strategy games and regularly challenged each of the team members to games of shogi. Danzo’s teaching had made Naruto familiar with the game but the boy was in no way good at it. While his repeated defeats made him slightly better, he never scored a victory against any of his teammates.

Yugao smiled rarely but was patient with the boy and answered his attempt at conversation in good grace. She had extensive knowledge about metallurgy and taught Naruto how to efficiently sharpen his knives.

Sai liked to draw. She rarely engaged in conversation and answered any question she was asked with single-word, clipped responses. It was about the extent of what Naruto had discovered about the girl, who felt like a distant block of ice to his senses. 

Her behaviour reminded Naruto of Sasuke Uchiha, one of his old classmates. The boy had been equally unapproachable, affecting a similarly closed-off posture and bearing eyes that looked but did not see. Naruto used to interpret it as haughty arrogance and galling dismissal and his bruised ego - everyone dismissed him - demanded that he confronts such behaviour head-on. It had taken Naruto a good amount of self-control to go against this ingrained habit of his. 

Observing instead of reacting, he had pulled on every morsel of knowledge he had acquired to painfully puzzle the obvious - in hindsight - conclusion. The ANBU introductory course on interrogation had opened his eyes to the wonders of body language. Lessons with Danzo on infiltration had given Naruto a basic understanding of psychology. The burn of shame, when he finally pieced the facts together, was no less scalding and Naruto could only lament that he hadn't been taught better before. 

The eyes burning with hate, the mouth dripping with venom, the bodies flinching away from him: it all had always been about him, directed at him, because of him. So much so that he could not conceive that sometimes, it simply wasn't. Sasuke and Sai both hurt from something but Naruto had taken Sasuke's actions as a personal slight and had answered it in the worst possible way. He refused to make the same mistake with Sai. 

Duty, mission, comrades; these words meant that he couldn't leave her alone, however. She was one of his comrades and his comrades were his family. Naruto wanted to believe in the creed his masters believed in, to follow the mantras that made them strong. He desired the reality where what blood could not give him, challenges endured together could. He simply had no idea how to go about it, the worry of coming off as overbearing chocking his usual course of action.

It was during the morning of the last day of preparation, when Tenzo gave the team the afternoon to unwind, that an opportunity finally presented itself to him.

“We depart on a mission tomorrow. Take the time to relax. Be ready tomorrow morning at six sharp,” said the team leader.

Yugao immediately departed, mentioned someone she had to see and Tenzo followed suit, leaving the two youngest members in the training ground. Before Sai could take a step, Naruto lightly touched her shoulder.

And yelped when the girl whirled around, kunai in hand and ready to open his jugular. His reflexes kicked in before his brain could fully analyze the situation and he locked the offending hand at the wrist.

“Sage, Sai, it’s me.”

The girl blinked, batting impossibly long eyelashes twice before she inclined her head. “I apologize,” she answered in a monotone.

Naruto shook his head. “It’s okay. I didn't mean to startle you like this. I wanted to know if you’d be interested in eating some ramen with me?”

“Ramen?”

“Yeah…" Naruto hesitated: did she not know of ramen? How terrible! "It’s noodles cooked in a broth with, you know-”

“I know. It is full of fat and salt, unhealthy.”

“Oy! It’s awesome okay?! It won’t kill you if you have it once in a while and it tastes real good!”

“Is that so?”

Naruto nodded firmly as if it were an obvious fact. “Yes.”

Silence wrapped over the pair and the air around them stilled.

“So… Are you coming?” blurted the boy, uncomfortable with the awkward stand-off.

“No.” And Sai whirled on her heels and walked off the training ground.

Naruto breathed out and hesitated. Not overbearing, he reminded himself. He had no idea what was overbearing or not, though. “Hum, taichou said to relax and there’s nothing like tasty ramen to relax?”

“I do not need relaxation. Good day," she answered in a clipped tone before walking further away.

The boy sighed; apparently, there would be no eating ramen together today. "Wait, Sai." The older teen did not stop at the call and the blond flailed from the dismissal before his thoughts finally settled on something to say. "I'm here, okay? If you need anything. Just talking or whatever. I want us to be good teammates." 

Silently cursing the fact he sounded lame even to his own ears, Naruto peered at Sai’s back, who had halted. Slowly, the girl turned her head to face him. And he saw it. It was like a flash of lightning carving through the night, there and gone in less than a heartbeat but for an instant, he saw the pain in the girl’s eyes.

“Your skills are appropriate. Now, mind your own business!” she spat, her voice uncharacteristically raw, before turning heels and briskly walking away, leaving a stumped Naruto behind.

The boy blinked and leashed the reflexive wave of indignation at her behaviour. "Bastard," he could not help but spit under his breath before immediately regretting the word. Sai did not owe him anything. Her refusal still stung, though; it stung as it did back then when he was in the Academy and his classmates refused him.

Maybe Sai thought his attempt to sympathize was shallow? They had known each other for barely a week, so what did he know about her? Nothing. That was it, thought the boy as he willed other, less pleasant possibilities away. Sai was his teammate and a ninja of Konoha; naturally, she believed in the Will of Fire. Had she been okay, she wouldn't have rejected him, he was sure.

Slowly, his features creased in a frown and he stepped out of the training ground. What had happened to Sai? Lost in thought, Naruto regained the headquarters, washed the grime of the training session and passed on some of his old clothes, a simple white shirt with a red spiral in the back and loose pants that he tied at the ankles over his waraji.

Half an hour later, for the first time in two months, he was walking the streets of Konohagakure.

It was amazing, he mused, how the simplest application of his teachings made him invisible to the villagers’ eyes. His steps were silent, his clothes were some he had never worn in public and the flow of his chakra was bent along the first Senfuha kata, modifying his presence, the “feel” he gave off. Combined with the fact his blond hair was only slightly duller and his eyes held a touch of green thanks to the transformation jutsu and no one recognized him.

He dropped his disguise in front of a street stall, closed by four flaps imprinted with the word “Ichiraku”. Entering the little restaurant, Naruto smiled.

“Yo! Teuchi-oji, Ayame!”

A young woman raised her head from the counter of her kitchen, eyes wide and mouth agape. Her lips moved once, twice before she almost lunged around the bar and engulfed Naruto in a hug. She squeezed hard, in an apparent bid to suffocate the boy who did not react and only blinked in surprise.

“Naruto! Fire, where were you?! You disappeared for two months, no news! We were worried you know?!”

“Oh. I… Sorry,” he whispered, enjoying the warmth of the girl’s body. “I had no idea you’d worry over me.” Hesitantly, he snaked his arms around Ayame and squeezed lightly.

Ayame broke the hug and held Naruto at arm's length before bopping him on the head. “What do you mean?! Of course, we’d get worried!”

The boy scratched the back of his scalp, eyes downcast and heat burning his neck and cheeks. A pleasant sensation was swelling in his chest, sweeter even than when Danzo had praised him.

“You had us worried kiddo.”

Teuchi’s voice, grave and raspy, startled Naruto out of his thoughts and he looked up at the old cook.

“We went to see the Hokage but he only told us you were fine, nothing else. What did you find yourself involved in this time?”

Naruto swallowed the knot that tied his throat shut and blinked furiously, clearing the mist that had settled over his eyes.

“I…” He coughed. “I was solving some important business. I’m fine. I’m…” He breathed in, deeply, and let go of the air, slowly. His visage brightened as he offered the father-and-daughter pair a smile. “I’m fine.”

“No disappearing like that without warning anymore, you got me? Otherwise, I will be furious!”

“Yes, Ayame.”

The older girl immediately started pulling the boy’s whiskered cheeks, a frown etched on her face. “It’s Ayame-nee to you, mister.”

Naruto’s eyes widened. For a few seconds, he could only stare at the girl, who answered with a glare that dared him to do otherwise.

“Yes, Ayame-nee.” The eagerness of his nod contrasted sharply with the choked compliance.

“Good! Now, what would you like?!”

The boy coughed once more. “Miso ramen, please!”

Teuchi chuckled. “One miso ramen, coming right up.”

One hour later, when Naruto finally left the restaurant, his heart - and less fortunately, his wallet - was lighter than it had been in days and his stomach was chock full of noodles. He had warned Teuchi and Ayame that he would be quite busy for a while, that he had no clear idea of when he would come back but that they had to be stocked and prepared for his next ramen binge nonetheless.

He saw the worry in their eyes as they agreed but, aside from projecting confidence, there was nothing more he could do on his part. He had lied to them - leaving the slightest taste of ash on his tongue - and assured them that his work would not be dangerous and even to bring them some new patrons; it would have to be enough for now.

As he meandered aimlessly under the afternoon sun, in one of the wooden alleys of the town, the rumour of a commotion came to his ears. Soon, Naruto crossed paths with a trio of running kids, pursued by a screaming ninja.

“Honorable Grandson, please, stop!”

Right as Naruto and the group of youngsters crossed, the boy at the front tripped on his much too long blue scarf - and who even wore a scarf this early in autumn? wondered Naruto - and crashed against the ground. His two companions immediately stopped and helped him on his feet while the ninja fussed.

"You okay, Kono?" A girl with carotte-hair asked. 

“Are you alright, Honorable Grandson?” The ninja asked, patting the dust off the child's clothes.

The boy looked around, face scrunched up, half in clear annoyance, half in a visible effort not to cry and found Naruto, who, seeing as "Kono" had barely scraped his knees, had decided to walk away.

“You!” screamed the boy, finger pointed at the teen. “You tripped me.”

Naruto turned around, saw the accusing finger and answered with a deadpan stare. “You tripped on your scarf.”

“Feh! Liar! I know it!”

Naruto shrugged. “You shouldn't blame others when it's your fault. You are just clumsy.”

Before the child, who was swelling up like an angry toad, could say anything, the ninja cut in, his voice dripping with disdain.

“Do not engage with this... Individual, Honorable Grandson. It is below your station.”

The child growled and tightened his fist. Meanwhile, a snarl distorted Naruto's face. He recognized the man's sneer, the look he was giving him from behind his smoked glasses. The ninja was one of those people. No, decided Naruto, he was likely worse. The boy noticed the way the man called the child, the manner in which he behaved around him: "honourable grandson", in some way, was just as much a disregard of the person as "that brat" was for Naruto. 

Before the ninja could herd the trio of children away, a sermon about how an "Honorable Grandson" ought to act already on the tip of his tongue, Naruto blocked the way. 

"Care to explain what you mean, comrade?" The blond teen asked, tone ice cold.

"We have no business with you." The ninja spat haughtily. "Move."

"I have business with you though, comrade. You said something about 'station' or whatever. I wanna hear what you mean by that."

"Feh. A crass individual such as you would have no hope of understanding. Now move, you are disturbing my lesson with the Honorable Grandson."

"I insist," snarled Naruto, fist white from being balled too tight. "I'm a ninja now, I need to know such things."

The ninja smirked. "You? A ninja? Do not lie boy, it'll-"

Naruto interrupted the man by pulling at his hitai-ate that he had wrapped around his belt. "I'm waiting for your explanation, comrade."

"You failed," spat the ninja. "Everyone-"

"Remedial lessons. I'm still waiting," cut Naruto. 

The ninja was stuck and Naruto knew it. Nobility was a nebulous concept in Kaoukoku. The Clans held power in the form of numbers, land and influence and plebeians behaved reverently towards them but being a ninja - no matter one's origins - automatically supplanted any other considerations. The warriors of Konohagakure were equals and only answered to the Hoshu and the Hokage. No matter whose grandson this "Kono" was, he wasn't above Naruto's station.

Plus, the man could not say a word about Naruto being a jinchuuriki.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought," mocked the boy, though his voice shook with constrained anger. Taking a step to the side, the teen pointed at the scarf-wearing boy. “Oh, by the way, I love being called 'individual'. It changes from 'brat'. I'm sure Kono here loves being called ‘Honorable Grandson’ every five seconds. You're not at all treating him like you treat me.”

His interlocutor paled but Naruto was gone before he could think of a retort.

As he walked away briskly, Naruto forcefully breathed out the boiling heat of his rage until his mind steadied in a peaceful state. 

He did not want the villagers to sing his praise. Being treated normally would be amply sufficient. He could not tolerate their glares and their insults any longer, however. They held him responsible for something he did not do, well he would not put up with it anymore. They had enjoyed their impunity for long enough.

He was a ninja. He was their comrade. He had dyed a part of himself bloody in order to bear the hitai-ate. He protected them from the Kyuubi. It was his pride, the foundation of his ego and he would not let himself - and the words of his masters - be disrespected.

The rest of his afternoon happened without any other incident and Naruto regained the headquarters as night was falling and darkening the sky. Without a word, he ate lightly with Tenzo, who was apparently the only one back, lost a game of shogi against the man and went to his bedroom soon afterwards.

The following morning was bizarre in its normalcy. Naruto woke up, read the three scrolls and washed his face.

It was only as he passed on his outfit - dry brown pants and tabi, leather-reinforced gaiters laced over his calf and a muted, burnt orange shitagi which sleeves were tucked under leather-reinforced vambraces - that he realized today was the big day.

Once dressed, the boy checked the contents of his sausage leather bag and found it properly stocked with a metallic cup with a wooden handle, a wooden spoon, the regulation medkit - unsealed for ease of access -, two ration holders, a change of tabi and a pair of waraji.

He then considered the score of weapons that lay in front of him. Across the small of his back, he tied his tanto to his slim black obi. Shuriken of all shapes - from needle-like senbon to four-pronged, star-like daggers - were meticulously dissimulated in his garment, within secret pouches or inside the seams. Discreetly sheathed in his gaiters, the rings of two kunai were jutting out. In a pouch on his hip were a few flash, smoke and explosive bombs. On the opposite side was a gourd filled with water.

The only object left was staring at him with empty eyes and snarling with teeth of steel. Anaguma, the badger.

His stomach knotted in a ball by nervous excitement, Naruto took the mask and fitted it to his face, securely tying the ropes around his head. The lacquered construct of steel and porcelain felt cool on his skin, hugging the curves and edges of his face perfectly. The boy blinked, checking his field of view and saw it was not limited in the slightest. His breathing was unimpeded too.

Exhaling slowly, Naruto abated the wild rhythm of his heart, wiped his palm over his pants and rose to his feet. Exiting the living quarters, he entered the main hall. His team leader was waiting, masked and ready.

“You’ve received glowing praise from Gingoku and Kingoku for your dedication over the past two months,” said Tora without preambles. “I saw it with my own eyes during the past week.”

“Thank you, taichou.”

“Your all will not be enough for our missions,” cut Tora dryly, his voice taking an ominous edge. “You will be required to break your limits again and again.” The man bore his dark gaze in Naruto’s blue. “Do you feel capable of that?”

Naruto swallowed thickly. Duty, mission, comrades. The mantra dissipated his doubts before they could even form. The azure of his eyes turned to lapis. If his all wasn’t enough, then he would find a way to give more.

“Yes, taichou.”

Seemingly satisfied, Tora nodded, allowing the boy to relax slightly. It was the moment the two other members chose to arrive, armed and masks on.

“Good, everyone is here, mission briefing begins now. The Aburame clan reported a rash of disapearances within their territory to the north-east of the kingdom for the past month. The preliminary investigation would suggest abduction but no culprit could be identified until one of our outer agents in Yuunotani reported a similar problem in the northern part of the country.”

“Something is going in Okata,” deduced Neko.

Squeezed between the eastern border of Kaoukoku and the southern mountains of Kaminari, Okata and Yuunotani were two small principalities established as buffer states to separate the two much larger kingdoms.

“We believe so. Coincidentally, one of our informants in Okata’s northernmost port town of Shindai has reported a noticeable increase of suspicious cargo ferried by the Gato Maritime Company.”

“Why is it suspicious?”

“Because GMC is involved in the first place. They have been expunged from the kingdom for drug dealing and banned from doing any business in our lands but their illegal activities are still afloat and flourishing in many places. Also, whatever the merchandise is, it’s heavily guarded, by people who don’t exactly have the look of your run-of-the-mill thugs.”

“Ninja, then?”

“Possibly but if that is the case, their affiliation is unknown. What is interesting, however, is that the efficiency of these abductions hints at ninjutsu.”

“So it’s possible the ‘not-thugs’ are the ones responsible but nothing is for certain. The abduction and the strange business… How are they linked though?” asked Naruto, not seeing any obvious connection.

“We cannot say for the moment but T&I does not believe in coincidences. Our agent in Shindai could procure the registers of the harbour master. All ships from GMC come from Mizushima, officially carrying dried guano. But there is something wrong: each time a ship is emptied, there is way too little cargo compared to what is officially declared.”

“It’s something heavier,” deduced Naruto. “The boats can’t carry much of it.”

“Or a mix of several kinds of goods. Thus our mission is as follows: we must investigate the nature of the cargo delivered in Shidai by the GMC and trace its final destination. We must also use this opportunity to gather clues about this abduction problem. If the culprit is effectively discovered, eliminate with extreme prejudice.”

“What about the abductees?”

“If we find them, they will be taken care of by our regular troops. Any other question?”

The three ANBU stayed silent and Tora nodded. “Let us go then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anaguma is the badger.  
> Shiroitachi is the white weasel.  
> Tora is the tiger.  
> Neko is the cat.  
> Edit: edited from Jinchouhime's feedback.


	5. Blood in the paddies 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is agreed among historians that Hashirama Senju genuinely wanted peace. So did Madara Uchiha.
> 
> The two men's disagreements were obviously never public but it is generally theorized that, while Hashirama and Izuna, the first Hoshu, were content with maintaining peace within the newly established borders of Kaoukoku, Madara wanted an end to all war, seeing the creation of the kingdom as only the first step towards something greater.
> 
> It is not that outlandish to think that the Uchiha warlord simply did not understand the concept of borders. It was a brand new concept after all, broader in scope than simply "the clan" yet strangely restrictive compared to "the world". Madara saw no point in stopping their effort at some imaginary line. Why conquer this hill but not this one? This stream yet not the one beyond?
> 
> Beyond peace, Madara dreamed of universalism, to abolish conflict by unifying the entire known world, making humanity a single clan and rendering war de facto a horrendous crime.
> 
> Hashirama knew full well that hunters speaking Kaminarian would never get along with peasants speaking Hoian and, in the end, made his dream reality.

The Moriden forest, which covered the Heartlands of Kaoukoku, was considered by many inhabitants to be a great source of wealth as well as a symbol of their country’s strength. As the saying went, “the day the Moriden burns will be the day the world ends”.

For the ninja of Konohagakure, the network of interlaced branches, the dense canopy and the towering trunks were synonymous with home. The woods were their playground, their highway and their fortress.

Which was why all four members of Team Alpha removed their mask as soon as they were far enough from the village that they would not encounter a patrol. There were more than eight hundred miles between Konohagakure and the border between Kaoukoku and Okata and running more than a hundred miles a day with the men-yoroi on was cumbersome.

Team Alpha covered the distance in a week and made a short pit stop in a secret outpost where they stocked on rations. Masks back on over a cowl of dark cloth, they infiltrated Okata during the seventh night of their travel, taking to the hills and fields to avoid any border outposts. It took them five more days of much slower and much more careful travel to cross the small country west to north.

Okata was a narrow, verdant plain, sprawling from the northern foothill of the Midori range to the Hokuumi sea and traversed by many rivers. The land was only sparsely forested, most of the good, abundantly watered soil divided in rice paddies cultivated by many small villages.

The ANBU stayed clear of the settlements, which was made generally easy due to their size. The large cities, Naruto quickly learned, were situated on the coast. From there, the white gold of Okata was exported to Kaminari, Mizushima to the east and some even went for the long haul and ended up being sold in the southern cities of Kazehara to the west.

The journey was a quiet, efficient affair. Every minute of pause was dedicated to resting or eating and Naruto had no time to discuss with any of his companions as even his usually boundless stamina was strained by the speed they sustained. When Team Alpha eventually reached Shindai, a bit before noon on the twelfth day of travel, the boy’s soles were blistered and his blood was soaking his tabi.

The four Konoha-nin promptly hid in a copse of young trees, less than a mile away from the city’s outskirts. While Naruto collapsed on his butt and gingerly removed his footwear, Tenzo eyed the city. Up in the trees, Yugao and Sai were keeping a close eye on the perimeter.

Shindai was built in a traditional square plan, with a tall bulwark girdling the inner town and harbour. Officially, Okata had no military other than a police force. Tenzo considered the presence of the suspicious mercenaries hired by the Gato Company, however, and decided that jumping to conclusions would be dangerous.

“What’s our first move, taichou?” asked Naruto as he carefully bandaged his feet.

“We must meet our man inside, so first of all, we enter the city.”

“Officially?”

“No, we need our weapons so we’ll bypass the walls. Though we cannot be careless. The men dealing with Gato’s merchandise probably aren’t normal, we established that.”

“So we wait for the night.”

Tenzo nodded tersely.

Naruto sighed in relief. By then, his feet would be better. His flesh wounds, provided they weren’t too severe, healed fast.

One after the other, the team members ate, rested and kept watch in silence. It felt weird for Naruto not to engage in conversation yet again, he could understand. They were on a mission and he could tell his comrades, even with the wealth of their experience, were tense. It was simply difficult for the boy to respect their quiet peace: for the longest time, blabbering had been his way of easing his nervousness.

It was around four in the afternoon when he endeavoured to meditate instead of stewing in his anxiety, seeing Yugao do the same. He sat in a perfect lotus and regulated his breathing. Slowly, like a rolling mist under the sun, his nerves dispersed in thin stripes and vanished. The knot in his stomach uncoiled and his shoulders relaxed.

Duty. Mission. Comrades.

There was no place for fear or doubt in his heart. No place for anything silly, like anticipation or excitement, in his mind. Naruto needed his focus sharp and undivided.

Duty. Mission. Comrades. There was nothing else.

Naruto opened his eyes as Yugao was reaching out to him. Night had fallen and around them, the thicket was filled with squeaks, tweets and the constant scratching song of crickets.

“We are going.”

It wasn't a question so the woman merely nodded at the boy’s affirmation. Naruto rose to his feet, noting that they did not hurt anymore, and walked up to Tenzo’s left before tying up his mask over his cowl. Like a pack of stalking wolves, the team exited the cover of the copse and progressed towards the eastern wall in otherworldly silence, tai and genjutsu concealing their presence, making them fluid shadows.

Merging their chakra with the material making up the bulwark, the ninja walked up the obstacle as if it were flat ground, casually defying gravity. One by one, they slinked over the battlements, escaping the lazy vigilance of the guards and jumped down on a nearby roof. Keeping to the eastern side of the slope, where the obscurity was deeper, the ANBU regrouped.

“Remove your masks and cowls and hide them. We drop in the streets, two groups. Four shadows jumping from roof to roof are far too suspicious.”

The soldiers nodded.

“Guma with Neko, go and secure the hideout. Itachi with me, we are going to meet our man.” Tenzo looked at Yugao. “We’ll meet you in the safe place.”

“Got it,” muttered the woman before she departed, Naruto on her heels.

“We are going to the red light district, to the “Sailor’s Rest”. I’ll be your dear Ami-chan tonight.”

Naruto blinked before a smirk slowly twisted his lips. “Sure.” He offered his arm for the woman to take while his chakra coloured his hair white and wrinkled his skin. He curved his back slightly and his outfit took on a silky quality. “Where are we going tonight, Ami-chan?”

“Not too many wrinkles, or we’ll have to slow down,” muttered the now brown-haired, seemingly much younger than twenty, girl. “Oh, I know a place, Omotto-san, you’ll love it.”

“Oh, oh, oh I’m sure we’ll have fun,” answered ‘Ottomo’, a perverted - amused? - grin cracking his features.

‘Ami’ shuddered slightly before she plastered a genial smile on her face. “No doubt about it!” From the corner of her lips, she spat a whispered warning. “If your hand wanders too much, you’ll be a few fingers short before the end of this mission.”

‘Ottomo’ paled ever so slightly. “Oh, I love you so very much, Ami-chan,” was his vaguely strangled response.

Shindai was a very organized city, with large, illuminated paved avenues and houses organized in regular blocks. The main streets were full of people enjoying fuming cups of mysterious beverage, wrapped in thick cloaks to combat the freezing breeze blowing inland from the Hokuumi sea. The red-light district was similarly organized except luxury inns and brothels replaced the proper shops and respectable workshops of the other streets.

Meanwhile, Tenzo and Sai had styled themselves as a pair of thugs and were navigating the maze of the lower-harbour district, which was nothing but a pile of gambling dens, opium parlours, whorehouses and drinking holes.

It took the duo about ten minutes of meandering between rowdy dockers and drunken sailors to find the “Prideful Junk”. Without problem, they entered what was possibly the worst sake den this side of the Midori range, in Tenzo’s opinion.

The inside of the pub was much too warm, the ground was battered dirt, covered haphazardly with cheap, thin straw mats, and a thick cloud of smoke hung, low and suffocating, over the tables and seats.

People, mostly men, muscular and tattooed, were drinking some clear alcohol so powerful that Tenzo could smell it from afar. Some held women of faded beauty in their arms. A few were smoking pipes of something so vile, Tenzo saw Sai nearly retch at the pungent odour when a man blew a cloud of viscous fumes near the pair.

Tenzo straightened, his light disguise flaking away like dust, his white-and-pepper hair returning to their natural brown while his eyes darkened to perfect black. Next to him, Sai, looking absolutely green, remained a boy.

“Where is our contact?” she asked under her breath, stifling a cough.

Tenzo motioned two fingers discreetly towards a low table in a corner, where Sai saw a shaggy-looking man dressed as a beggar. Without any hesitation, the team leader walked up to the man and sat down.

“Hello, friend. Nice moon we have tonight.”

“Yeah, lad, da sea will be clear by da morrow.”

“Good,” said Tenzo. “We can begin.”

“Damn, you lots cradle robbin’ no’days?” asked the informant, a bushy eyebrow raised in surprise, one eye rolling on Sai while the other wandered to the side.

“That is not yet your concern. If you inquire again, you won’t have any concern anymore.”

“Sage, lad, relax, ‘m just curious is all. So, what’s it?”

“The shipments of Gato Company. Where are they stocked?”

“Oh, ya’re in luck people. One ship dock’d just yeste’day. It’s all in da stor’house now.”

“And this storehouse, where is it?”

“Wow, minut’ lad. Where’s me money? Ya know, bribbin’ da damn swines in the harbour masta’ office cost me a pretty penny.”

Something metallic rolled on the table, a silver tael, worth one hundred ryos.

The man smiled, displaying a missing tooth and spirited the tael away in one of his sleeves. “Much betta’ lad; now, where was I? Sage my throat is so-”

Steel suddenly gleamed in Tenzo’s hand and the informant fell silent. The ninja spoke slowly, eyes staring in a weird, empty fashion at the broker. “You’ll have all the time in the world to drink - on my tab - after you tell me where the storehouse is located.”

The man swallowed thickly, both hands raised up. “He he, no need lad, no need, pack yar steel. Gato’s stor’house isn’t da usual one. It’s on the western side of the port, pretty old buildin’s ya see? Ya can’t miss it, ya have goons skulkin’ around at all time o’ day. Nearly stabb’d me skin too. Da morons.”

Another tael rolled on the table and Tenzo nodded. “See, when you try, you can. I’ll pass on the usual threats of non-disclosure. Remember, we pay much better.”

“Aye aye, capt’n! ‘Z that all?”

“It is, Kijiri, it is.”

“Pleasure doin’ business with ya, lad.”

Tenzo nodded curtly and looked at Sai. “Let’s go.”

The safe house, Naruto discovered, was a narrow space that could barely fit four people hidden under the roof of a rather large entertainment establishment. Yugao and him had to drop their disguise and stealthily make their way, from a back alley to the roof, in order to access it.

The pair kicked up a cloud of dust as they cleared the small place, nearly tearing a cough out of Naruto in the process.

“Do we have a candle or anything?” whispered the boy once both were settled in the dark hideout.

Yugao promptly shook her head, the wave of her hair barely visible in a stray ray of moonlight. “No fire in a dusty confined space,” she answered in lecture mode.

“Why?”

“Dust catches on fire and you get an explosion, especially under a roof like that.”

Naruto swallowed. “Wow. Didn’t know that. Thanks.”

“Why did you need the light for, anyway?”

The boy scratched the back of his head. “I’m trying to learn Kaminarian,” he mumbled. “Danzo-sama gave me a self-study book,” he explained, waving a tiny notebook.

Yugao blinked. “The standard-issue dictionary?” She snorted. “Drop it, it’s riddled with mistakes. I know Kaminarian, I’ll teach you.”

Naruto smiled and bounced excitedly - as much as the cramped space allowed him to at least. “Really?”

“Volume,” Yugao replied dryly.

“Sorry,” whispered the boy. “You’ll teach me?”

“Yes. Which lesson have you already completed?”

Naruto blushed. “Huh. Mhm.”

“Alright. Chapter one it is. The first thing to know about Kaminari is that, because of the mountains, the inhabitants stayed isolated for pretty long. That’s why they sound nothing like us. With that being said, the first thing you need to do is a pronunciation exercise.”

“A… A pronunciation exercise?”

“Correct. You see, they have sounds we don’t use at all. So, listen well and repeat after me. Quietly.”

When Tenzo and Sai arrived at the safe house, half an hour, they were met by a smirking, half-amused, half-exasperated Yugao and a Naruto who was doing his best to twist his tongue around exotic consonants. Tenzo chuckled at the rather awful attempts, recognizing Kaminarian and deciding on the spot that Naruto would be forbidden to speak if they ever had a mission in the mountain kingdom within the coming months.

In the inky darkness, a twitch lifted Sai’s lips but the teenage girl promptly stomped it down with a frown.

“Alright, enough plaisanteries,” interrupted the team leader, gathering the attention of his soldiers. “We have a general position for the Gato storehouse. We’ll conduct recon tomorrow to establish a layout of the place and get in tomorrow night, provided they don’t leave with the cargo. Question?”

“Any clue on what it is?” asked Yugao.

“No.” Tenzo looked at his teammates. “Nothing else? Good, let’s eat and then go to sleep, usual watch rotation.”

Naruto fished in his sausage bag and retrieved one of his ration holders. It was a sphere of greenish glass, slightly larger than his fist, reinforced by straps of braided cotton in a pattern that surrounded six circles of red ink.

The boy peered for a second, as was his habit, at the insides of the sphere. He found the sight fascinating: a swirling interlacings of minuscule ducts that glowed ever so slightly.

As far as Naruto’s limited understanding of fuinjutsu went - he had naturally taken an interest after discovering what a jinchuuriki was but had yet to make any progress - sealing something - commonly denominated as the “target” - into something else - the “receptacle” - required a specific chakra flow. That sealing techniques more or less always looked the same was no accident: a series of prongs and squiggly lines directed the flow of chakra and led to an figuratively empty space, where whatever had to be sealed would be.

The main problem was space: the need for it grew exponentially with the complexity of the fuinjutsu, which meant that, at some point, using a scroll wasn’t worth it anymore.

The solution was to build a three-dimensional receptacle, something that proved to be an awfully complicated feat of engineering and had only been mastered by the Uzumaki, a now nearly extinct branch of the Senju clan.

The ration holder he now held in his hand was one example of their genius that had been preserved by Kaoukoku.

Naruto squashed the wistful thought and applied his thumb and a bit of chakra over one of the circles. It suddenly coloured black before smoke erupted from it in a rather powerful blast. The boy caught in his palm a square tablet of something solid, carefully wrapped in thin paper. In red ink, a preservation charm had been applied.

Taking his gourd, Naruto poured a bit of water in his cup and dropped the tablet of condensed food in before he heated the resulting mixture with his chakra. The first steps of the various nature transformations were not overly complicated and made for handy hengaijutsu to boil water. The field ration soon turned into a gluey paste that smelled vaguely like chestnut.

“Urgh,” groaned the boy.

Tenzo chuckled and Yugao offered him an understanding nod.

Naruto crept out of the hideout, his cup and spoon in hand, and flattened his body against the curve of the roof. The first quarter was always his. Slowly, he chewed a mouthful of food and forced it down his gullet. Vile did not even begin to describe it but after twelve hours since his last meal, the boy ate the substance nonetheless, keeping a keen awareness of his surroundings.

The night passed without incident and it was a bit before dawn was fully there when Team Alpha left their hideout, their masks on. In the pale obscurity that came before a new day, the four ANBU stalked from roofs to back streets to small alleys, crossing the inner town of Shindai towards the north-western segment of the harbour.

The old docks were a collection of old, worm-eaten storehouses that creaked and squeaked under the ocean breeze. The piers stood above water in various states of disrepair, algae slowly but surely creeping up their supporting posts. A few fumes rising languidly from small fires could be seen here and there, the refuges of homeless people. The mournful cries of a flock of seagulls completed the picture, the white birds circling the deserted district like sea vultures.

The one stowage still in use was easy to spot; three patrols of two circled around it and four individuals kept watch over the door. The men were relaxed but out of confidence or foolishness, Tenzo could not tell. From his vantage point atop the rusty tower of a tall crane, the man swept one last careful glance over the precincts before folding his telescope. Graceful as a cat, he dropped down to where his team was waiting, in a dilapidated storehouse.

“It looks too easy,” he said without preamble.

“A trap.” Yugao suggested immediately.

“Possibly but for whom?”

“A diversion then,” said Naruto.

Tenzo nodded slowly. “Entirely possible too. Though it’s a lot of trouble and a bit obvious.”

“The feint could actually be the strike,” muttered the boy with a nod of understanding. “I hate reverse psychology."

“Your entire kenpo is built on it,” remarked Yugao dryly.

“I hate it when it’s used against me. I’ve no problem using it on others,” explained Naruto with a smirk.

Silence fell over the team for a few seconds before Naruto broke it.

“So, what do we do, taichou?”

“We have to check.”

“I can send a shadow clone,” offered Naruto, to which Tenzo nodded.

“That’s what you and I will do. Everyone, be prepared for rapid extraction if things go south.”

Without prompting, the man and the boy made a cross with the two forefingers of both hands and focused on splitting their chakra in half. With a hiss, their replica appeared at their right in a shimmer of chakra-loaded air. Tenzo’s shoulders slumped slightly and the man exhaled noisily through his mask, hands shaking and humid.

Naruto, meanwhile, stood straight, seemingly completely unaffected by the toll of the technique.

The clones departed without a word, the Naruto doppelganger shadowing Tenzo’s. Taking to the roof, the replicas carefully approached their target. The old wood of the stowage was too old to be pried apart silently and the only entrance was under surveillance. The shingles of the roof, however, were disjointed and missing in several places.

The path of entry was simply too obvious and Tenzo was hesitant. As shadow clones, they did not risk anything but if they were caught, whoever was behind the operation here would come to know someone was interested in them. Unless Team Alpha could take care of the ten guards and even then, their sudden disappearance would be suspicious. Tenzo had no idea of their level of threat anyways: engaging when it wasn’t strictly necessary would be foolish.

They couldn’t, however, do nothing.

With a flicker of his wrist, clone-Tenzo pointed at the roof and clone-Naruto nodded. Akin to ghosts, the pair lunged from their hiding spot to the roof, landing in perfect silence and flattening themselves against it. Peering down the largest hole in the shingles, the replicas only saw darkness. Clone-Tenzo unsheathed a kunai from beneath his right sleeve and slid the blade against the palm of his left hand before holding half of the dragon mudra.

A trail of blood snaked out of the light wound and slowly coiled into an orb of watery, slightly red substance as the replica moulded its chakra into suiton. Suddenly, the sphere of liquid chakra exploded like a bubble and rained through the hole in fine droplets.

The timid sunlight, barely peeking above the horizon, broke against a few drops of chakra, mysteriously suspended in the air.

“Tripwires,” whispered clone-Tenzo. “The fit is too tight for me.”

Clone-Naruto nodded, acknowledging the unsaid, and carefully lowered his torso through the hole, bending sideways to avoid triggering a trap and chakra coiled to dispel at the first sign he would. Slowly, he snaked his arms inside and stuck his hands to a beam. Tensing his arms and abdominal muscles like they were made of steel, the clone lifted himself by the wrists and lowered his legs inside, twisting around the wires impossibly slowly.

Sweat marring his brow and arms trembling from exertion, the boy’s replica slipped under the beam, beneath the web of wires. He smiled, satisfied. He was in.


	6. Blood in the paddies 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The war never officially ended between Kaoukoku and Tsuchimikado. Instead, a ceasefire line was established between the two countries, tearing entire populations apart. The flames of conflict were sparked once more after fourteen years of uneasy peace when a local warlord declared the independency of Ametanigawa, to the far east of the ceasefire line. Kaoukoku and Tsuchimikado found themselves at each other's throat before anyone knew what exactly was happening. Kaminari and, surprisingly, Kazehara, soon joined the fray for their own interest.

The inside of the warehouse was pitch black. After following the beam to the wall and scaling it down, clone-Naruto blinked a few times, hoping his vision would adapt somewhat to the darkness. To no avail: there wasn’t yet enough light outside for his eyes to take advantage of it. Understanding he could not rely on his vision, the boy closed his eyes, crouched on all four and inhaled through his nose.

Wet wood. Salt. A hint of something oily, undercut by an almost imperceptible scent of hardness, sharpness. Sweat. The surf against the pier. The distant calls of the seagulls. The whispers of a conversation outside, between two guards. The creak of the structure. His heartbeat. Slowly, clone-Naruto moved forward, focusing on every inch of his exposed skin, nose and ears twitching.

It took him about a second to find a crate. And one more to find another. And another. The warehouse was stocked with a few wooden crates, as wide as Naruto’s torso was long and as high as his knees. After touring the place, clone-Naruto returned under the hole in the roof.

Kunai in hand, he patiently wrenched a few nails out of the wood of a box and eventually opened it, after fifteen minutes of silent toil. Reaching inside, he easily found something, lying in a bed of straw and wrapped in a slightly greasy piece of cloth.

Long - almost as long as his forearm - flat, and narrow, the object was heavy and cold to the touch. The clone winced. And it was sharp. From the absence of a handle, clone-Naruto deduced it was the tip of a spear missing its shaft. Carefully, he replaced the spearhead with his kunai in the cloth, placed the wrapped weapon inside the crate and pulled the lid back on before he stepped back to the wall.

Hurriedly, he climbed up and waved at clone-Tenzo, who cut a clear figure against the hole. Behind the man, clone-Naruto noticed the sky was turning bluer and bluer. Without a word, the boy showed the blade to the other replica.

"Anything else?” signed the man.

“Can check,” replied the boy somewhat awkwardly. “But many targets. Very slow. Risk discovery.”

“Acknowledged. Give evidence.”

One throw later and clone-Tenzo now had the spear tip in hand. “Cut technique.”

Clone-Naruto nodded and dispelled. The one replica left lunged away from the roof and disappeared in the alleys of the old district, eventually entering the hiding place of Team Alpha where he gave Tenzo the object before dispelling

Under the light of the now fully risen sun, the swirling patterns of the Damascus steel were clearly visible on the blade.

“Kazehara,” whispered Yugao.

Naruto blinked and looked at the woman, who saw his questioning look.

“Within the dunes of Kazehara, there are wells of quicksand with a particular red colouring. The inhabitants discovered it was extremely rich with a special iron. When forged into a weapon, the blade always bears this kind of motif. You can’t imitate it.”

The boy nodded, trusting the kenjutsu specialist to know her deal. The grim look on Tenzo’s face was confirmation enough that Yugao’s claims were true.

“What… What does it mean?”

“It means our neighbour is quite possibly selling weapons to an unknown party within Okata, through the services of a shady company that’s been illegally ferrying them.”

Naruto frowned. “And…” He sighed. “You are sure this steel can’t be imitated, aren’t you?”

Yugao nodded. “Positive. Taichou?”

“We have to discover to whom these weapons are destined and trace the sender back through the Gato Company.”

“So, we send a message to Command,” interjected Sai, who was already kneeling, a scroll open in front of her and a brush in her hand. “What should it say?”

Tenzo looked at the girl pensively for a second then nodded. “Konoha needs to keep watch over the ports of Kazehara and monitor the ships of the Gato Maritime Company. You think your swallow will be able to carry all that?”

“Yes, taichou. I’m confident it will last until the message has reached Command,” answered the girl before she crushed a stick of ink against an inkstone, dipped her brush in it and painted a small bird on the scroll.

Speeding through mudra, Sai bent the flow of her chakra before she slapped her hands on the scroll. In front of Naruto’s flabbergasted eyes, the bird emerged from the paper - which was rapidly turning to ashes - in shades of black and white. The boy could distinctly see words floating within the chakra construct. Without warning, the bird started fluttering overhead in the abandoned warehouse before flying out of the building with incredible haste.

“That’s so-”

A slap behind his ears silenced the boy’s exclamation.

“Volume,” reminded Yugao.

Naruto smiled apologetically. “That’s one cool hengaijutsu,” he whispered.

Sai nodded stiffly as she packed her tools. A sheen of sweat was pearling over her neck and her breathing sounded slightly ragged but the boy held his mouth shut. Showing concern would have to come later.

“So, now what? We wait?" he asked instead.

“Now we watch the building,” corrected Tenzo, “and we watch our rations and we fish for rumours.”

The two days that followed passed without incident, Team Alpha electing to hide in an abandoned storehouse rather than their cramped hideout. Nothing moved in or out of the building they kept watch over and the guards were rotated every few hours. The only notable change was in Sai’s behaviour. The girl was exhausted and Naruto understood she had consumed a sizable part of her chakra to send the message. Even the pills she had ingested had not solved the problem completely.

Subsisting on half a ration for every twelve hours did not seem to help matters but Naruto eventually convinced Tenzo to allow him to venture into the city to procure some actual food. The boy had argued, to his captain and to himself, that he wasn’t playing hooky; he was providing a service to his team and if it were an opportunity to avoid the boring watch duty and explore the town for a bit, it was just a coincidence.

Looking like a proper city boy, Naruto left the old harbour district, clothes subtly straightened and glamoured by the transformation jutsu, and entered the populated and animated streets of Shindai.

The city was strikingly different from Konohagakure and that was ignoring the obvious fact one was bordering the ocean whereas the other was nestled in a valley deep inside a forest.

Konohagakure was barely a town in the first place, being comparatively small in regards to her strategic importance for Kaoukoku. It was officially the heart of the kingdom’s military, the seat of the Hokage and a large training facility.

As far as Naruto understood Danzo’s lessons, it was a powerful tool for the Hoshu to maintain his power over the noble clans.

The lords were legally obligated to split their time between the court of the Golden Flame Palace and their scattered domains. Meanwhile, their children were educated starting age seven by the only institution authorized to pass on the teachings of ninjutsu - clan secrets not included - an institution led by people loyal to the king.

It was not by chance that all four Hokage were all connected to one another by a yet unbroken mentor-and-student chain. The ANBU commanders were all equally loyal and chosen from a comparable mould.

In comparison, Shindai’s orderly districts gave a sensation of freedom and thriving life that Konohagakure, stifled and controlled, did not possess. Beggars and children encumbered the streets, the first showing various disgusting mutilations or tricks in the hope an amused passerby would drop them a ryo, the latter playing with hoops and sticks. Merchants advertised wares coming from all over the seas: elaborate hats braided in Kusanokuni, pottery baked and painted in Tsuchimikado, toys from Kazehara and so much more than Naruto had never seen.

Each stall was overflowing, a show of wealth that was supposed to attract clients. Naruto would have never guessed a country whose economy was based on selling rice could be so rich but people had money to spare. It was not too surprising, after further reflection: Kaminari being a cold chain of high mountains, had very little arable land, the islands of Mizushima were too small, the vast northern steppes of Tsuchimikado were ideal to raise horses and cattle but not to grow crops.

Rice was Okata’s raison d’être, the “why” of her existence.

Easily, Naruto found a nice stall garnished with apples, bananas and an assortment of nuts and bought a little mix in exchange for a few ryos. Next, he fluttered around a butcher, to whom he took a few slices of smoked lard before grabbing a few rice balls. All the while, the boy had lent a stray ear to the gossip buzzing in the streets. Mechanically, Naruto imprinted the morsels of discussion in his mind for a later debrief.

Some things he had heard were strange. He had no idea if they were concerning yet but that would be for his captain to judge.

Taking his time - and a few detours - Naruto traced his way back to the old harbour and slipped, unnoticed, in the old warehouse where Team Alpha had established camp.

Yugao was nowhere to be seen, Tenzo was power-napping and Sai was asleep. Gently, the boy tapped rhythmically against an abandoned crate until Tenzo acknowledged him. Naruto gave his captain a smile and showed him the small bag filled with provision.

“Got some actual food and the freshest gossip,” he whispered.

“Food later, we’ll wait for Sai to wake up,” ordered Tenzo, his voice equally hushed. “You heard anything interesting?”

“I might. Someone is buying rice.”

Tenzo offered him a deadpan look. Obviously, people were always buying rice in Okata. He motioned for the boy to explain further.

Naruto pouted slightly when he saw his captain would not take the bait but complied. “Someone is buying loads of rice, in advance. Apparently, the near entirety of the upcoming harvest has been acquired, nationwide.”

“That’s normal I’d say. Kaminari, Mizushima and Tsuchimikado to some extent are dependent on Okata for their food supply and they negotiate the production in advance.”

“Ah.” Naruto nodded in understanding before adopting a pensive mien. “Still, I’ve heard a lot of the locals complain and worry. If it is a common occurrence, they shouldn’t, right?”

Tenzo shrugged. “I guess some people don’t like to sell what they toiled to produce. Many are likely less than enthused by the idea of trading with Kaminari. Okata… Well, those lands suffered a lot in the past wars under the Kaminarian occupation, to the point that they rebelled and threw them out. Yet, Kaminari is still their main client.”

Naruto hummed. “I can definitely be wrong but I think there is more. The people aren’t just grumpy, they are worried.”

Tenzo frowned. “Are you sure it has to do with rice?”

The boy nodded firmly. “Quite. Though I can’t tell you how much. It’s like some of them fear that there won’t be enough.”

“And is there anything that could point at it being true?”

“I’ve heard someone say that the harvest was poor up north... But immediately, someone else answered that no harvest was ever perfect.”

“So, no hard fact.”

Naruto hesitated before he slowly shook his head. “No. No hard fact. There are rumours of diseased paddies and aggressive buyers but it’s just that, rumours. Apparently, it happens every year, to some extent.”

Tenzo sighed and then chuckled lightly. “Cloaks and daggers can’t be everywhere, you know?”

The boy scratched the back of his scalp. “Yeah, I guess so. Sorry.”

“No need. You’re learning and you could very well be unto something. But it does not seem urgent nor related to our mission so we’ll simply signal it when we’re back home. Rice is too important a resource to be ignored.”

“Understood.”

At this moment, Sai groaned under her makeshift covers and straightened up. Slowly, so as to not awaken her preservation instinct, Naruto approached her, some of his finds in hand.

“Some real food, once you’re fully there.”

Sai stared at the boy, looked behind him to see the groceries bag and nodded sharply once before she took her meal from him. “You have my thanks.”

Naruto backed away and sat down next to Tenzo, who was giving him a faint smile.

“She appreciates it.”

Naruto sighed once he had deciphered the hand signs message that literally said “Sai”, “take”, “think” and “good”. He hesitated for a moment; he had not dared to ask Tenzo or Yugao about Sai, not wanting to pry into something that did not concern him directly. Eventually, he decided not inquiring would be ruder than not to and signed his question.

“What happened?”

Apparently, Tenzo had no real qualm about sharing his subordinate’s history.

“Mission gone wrong. Lost her brother. She blames herself.”

“Oh,” whispered the boy, immediately slapping a hand over his mouth. As discreetly as he dared, he glanced behind him at the girl, who was eating her onigiri. Nothing transpired from her blank expression.

Naruto had guessed something devastating had happened but hearing it for the first time made it real, gave it weight. Another sigh tore through his lips. Sai wasn’t the only person that Naruto knew who had lost someone close: among the boy’s old classmates, almost everyone had lost at least one parent. He could not, however, picture the pain of having it happen in front of him.

His lessons reflexively rose to the forefront of his mind, Danzo’s litanies echoing under his skull. If Sai had lost her brother on a mission, then at least it meant his death had served a greater purpose. A life offered in the line of duty was duly honoured by the kingdom, never truly forgotten, and when one comrade left, those who stayed were there for one another. “When the flame goes out, the embers stay alight forevermore”; those were his teacher’s words, a part of the creed of the Will of Fire.

The life of a ninja was one of sacrifice, yes, but one of hope just as much. At least, this was how Naruto understood his teachings.

Naruto eyed his captain, suddenly wondering who Tenzo had lost while serving Kaoukoku. What about Yugao? ANBU were special forces, chosen among the best and toughest to undertake the most perilous challenges. Naruto knew he was an anomaly, that outside of special circumstances, he would have never earned a mask this early in his life. If things had been right, he would have fought and bled first, lost and sacrificed, challenged and endured.

His circumstances were special but that meant very little, the boy decided. He believed in the Will of Fire and he would be there for his comrades. Absorbed by his thoughts, Naruto fished for a rice-ball and took a resolute bite off the treat, chewing the food slowly. He had promised his best and his best was what he would give.

An hour later, Yugao entered the warehouse and signed for the boy to take her spot spying on the suspicious cargo. With a smile, Naruto gestured towards the fresh supplies before he departed to do his boring duty.

It was on the fourth day that something eventually happened. Like some sort of overgrown bird of prey, Naruto was roosted at the top of the dilapidated crane when a large, round junk, bearing her sail in the fashion of Mizushima vessels, entered the old harbour. Hidden under the webs of the false surroundings jutsu, the boy observed the boat, almost empty considering the height of its waterline. Once the vessel was securely moored, the sailors came down one by one on the jetty before they entered the warehouse and started loading the wooden crates of weapons on the junk, under the invisible - and puzzled - eyes of Naruto.

“What are they doing?” The boy muttered under his breath. Weren’t the weapons destined to someone in Okata? Where did this junk come from? Where would she be sailing to? Squinting his eyes, Naruto scanned the scene.

The sailors could not dissimulate anything: save for short trousers and open shirts, they had no way to hide any large object on them. Searching for any hint of chakra being used, tilting his head and closing one eye to throw off a potential illusion, Naruto quickly came up with a blank. Promptly, the boy palmed one of his kunai and threw the blade behind him in a sharp motion. The knife flew silently in an arc and buried itself in the roof of Team Alpha’s hideout.

Thirty seconds later, three ghosts phased in existence next to Naruto.

“They’re loading the cargo,” whispered the boy. “They’re leaving.”

Tenzo swore, Yugao tensed ever so slightly and Sai did not react outwardly at all.

“Underwater,” said the older woman suddenly, her gaze on the boat’s sail.

Naruto blinked and focused on the water but saw nothing.

“Ninja with rebreathers,” whispered Tenzo. “A piece of Kiri technology,” he explained to his youngest, clueless subordinate. “That’s one possibility.”

“We have another problem though. If the weapons are not for someone here, to whom are they destined?” Sai analysed calmly.

Tenzo hesitated for a second. “Strictly speaking, this is outside of our mission parameter.”

“It supersedes it,” argued Yugato.

“Well, we aren’t going to stow away on this vessel when we don’t know where she is going.”

“Shadow clones,” pointed Naruto, discreetly relieved he could contribute somewhat. “I learned to parse through the clone's memory feedback.”

“The chakra will disperse before going back to you if your replica goes too far away.”

“I only need to learn the destination. There should be a map in the captain’s lodge.” Naruto’s eyes suddenly went wide. “We didn’t dare explore the warehouse too much but what if it’s already not the same cargo?”

“An underground passage used to switch the crates,” said Sai, to which Naruto nodded.

“Damn it. Alright, we retreat, we can’t use chakra here, we’ll be spotted,” ordered Tenzo.

Team Alpha promptly left their spot and disappeared into an enclosed back alley.

“Anaguma, you have more chakra than me, your clone will last longer. Remember that your objective is to discover where the junk is going, as well as the nature of her cargo. Dispel the technique as soon as you’ve acquired this information or if you’re going to be discovered. We don’t want to alert anyone yet. The junk cannot leave with the knowledge that we were here.”

“Yes taichou,” acknowledged Naruto before he went through the jutsu’s mudra. Immediately, an ethereal replica split from the boy’s body before solidifying. The clone simply nodded and sped through his own hand signs, which caused him to disappear from Team Alpha’s view.

“We have to check the warehouse again, verify if there aren’t any hidden accesses.”

“We’ll have to wait until they are done. We’ll be spotted for certain if we go now,” pointed Yugao.

Tenzo frowned. “We let the ship go then we act. We might have to get rid of the guards to have our hands free. We have already lost enough time because of our assumptions and their presence will slow us down.”

“Maybe they’ll leave?” Naruto suggested.

“That’s unlikely. If the warehouse has multiple dissimulated passageways, they’ll stay to make sure they aren’t discovered,” said Sai.

The boy gave a resigned sigh. He had been hoping for a bit more time before having to kill again. The thought that it would be in battle was only slightly uplifting. His first experience left him feeling more like a butcher than a warrior.

“Four against each patrol of two then four against four. If we are quick and silent enough, we’ll have the advantage."

"Two of us will have to replace the first patrol if we want to keep surprise on our side," noted Naruto.

"True. They move clockwise, we will dispatch them going counter, Sai and Yugao will replace the first patrol and help us get rid of the main team. We'll need to attract them while dispatching the third pair." Tenzo nodded, satisfied. "Let’s prepare. Anaguma, inform us when your clone has dispelled. Neko, you are on overwatch.”

Naruto nodded before he started patting himself all over, checking that all his weapons were in place for the upcoming assault.

Naruto-clone walked as relaxedly as he dared along the jetty, his cloaking jutsu concealing him from the eyes of the sailors. The commotion from the loading of the junk was enough to mask any sound he could produce and as a clone, he had very little odour. It would have taken an experienced Inuzuka or Hatake to smell his presence.

Moulding a bit of his chakra along the sole of his feet, he willed for the energy to merge with the chakra in the ground, establishing a link. Slowly he firmed up the link until it was strong enough that he could slip underneath the jetty, stuck to the underside with his chakra. Crouching, he approached the back of the junk, stuck to the hull and crawled, weird invisible leech, around the vessel until he found himself at the back.

The junk was large enough that her stern was arranged in several enclosed quarters for the captain and his officers. Windows of rough glass could be opened to provide some fresh air to the no doubt cramped office and bedroom. There was a light filtering through but after listening intently, the false boy decided no one was inside.

Naruto-clone looked at the junction line between the two movable panels. Retrieving a senbon from somewhere around his left shoulder, the replica wiggled the flexible, pointy piece of steel in-between the windows and twisted until the lock yielded. Carefully, he crept inside and found the cabin empty.

The bed was done with the near-psychotic precision that he had come to expect from Gingoku, and on the desk - bolted to the floor - lay a large map. Naruto-clone gave it a long, hard look. He had no idea how to read such a map but committed as many details to memory as he could, silently drawing it in his mind, one hand hovering above the paper and slightly twitching left to right. After the work the original had put into filtering the shadow clone’s experience imprint, he should not have too much trouble duplicating the map.

His spying done, the clone approached the door and flattened himself against it, stretching his senses outward. From the orders cracking the morning air to the distant grunts of effort he could distinguish above the litany of the surf, the crates were not loaded yet. Naruto-clones tried to open the door but found it locked.

Swearing, the replica backed out of the room by where he had stalked in, closing the windows behind him with a light touch of chakra and some teasing with a senbon. Opening the door was a no go because there was no way Naruto-clone would have the time to lock it back up. And given how neat the captain of this junk was, he would immediately be suspicious if he found the door to his cabin unlocked.

Sticking to the hull of the vessel, Naruto-clone peeked at the deck. It was open in its centre and the sailors were lowering their burden in the hold from there. A massive grid of wood lay on the deck, ready to be slid back above the hatch to close it. The replica understood immediately that he had only as much time as the loading kept going to infiltrate the hold.

Naruto-clone waited patiently, feeling his chakra ebbing away in imperceptible wisps of energy, melding back with Creation. The process was only mildly accelerated by the surface sticking technique and the cloaking jutsu he was using but active use of his chakra, as a shadow clone, meant he had less than an hour.

Having found his window of opportunity in the mindless rhythm of the sailors’ work, the replica leapt and squeezed himself down the hatch, careful to not touch any of the men forming the human chain. Feather stepped, Naruto-clone entered the hold and immediately stuck to the ceiling, to creep unhindered towards the crates that had already been secured.

As silently as he could, the replica worked one of the top, furthest-from-the-hatch crate open. Before he was halfway done, however, he felt his dangerously low chakra levels unravel faster and faster. Naruto-clone swore; if he disappeared from chakra-loss, the intelligence he had acquired would be hazy or straight-up lost. Deciding that a single “yes” was better than two “maybe”, the replica dispelled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe you all know but to ensure that there is no confusion, a junk is a boat.


End file.
